Apocalypse
by SquallAce
Summary: ON HIATUS... Set about 2000 years after Disgaea 3. In this far future, life is still far from simple for the Disgaea cast. But things are about to get worse; Vulcanus, Zenon, Aurum, even Baal are nothing compared to what's coming. Can they survive the end of creation?
1. Prologue

_I don't own disgaea, disgaea and all related characters are property of Nippon Ichi_

_Ocs are mine_

_This is my first story, so im inexperianced. Any advice is welcome.__ :)_

Prologue

Everything has its time. That time can strike as quickly and as quietly as the flash of lightning. On the tiny, insignificant, wonderful world of Earth, along with her inter-dimensional neighbours; Celestia and the various Netherworlds, June Twenty-Forth, Twenty-Four Eighty-Seven, was a day like any other.

Who would have known that as the inhabitants went about their everyday routine, chores, work, school, they were the unsuspecting prey of a predator that they could not hope to defend themselves against? The grazing zebra, being stalked by the wild lion?

Who would have known that that very predator was watching its prey with hungry and envious eyes?

Who would have known that these seemingly eternal worlds would have a mere Twenty-Four hours before the beginning of their time?

_June 24th 2487 Earth, United States of America, Texas, Houston, Galileo Stellar Observatory_

"There it is again!" exclaimed Harry Johnston, stabbing his stout index finger at the frequency monitor.

"What?" inquired Felicia Walker, an impatient tone to her voice.

Johnston turned his chair toward her and looked up at her, a sense of great achievement and pride on his fat, bearded face, "Co-ordinates 515-by-421. There is a huge concentration of Tachyon particles, bigger than any concentration ever recorded". He developed an ear to ear grin. "We could be looking at a new space phenomenon."

"Sounds like a major payday to me, Dood" yelled an excited, high-pitched voice from the corner of the room. The voice belonged to a small, blue, penguin-like creature, no larger than a child. It had two large eyes, those of a dead fish, unblinking and unemotional, a pair of tiny bat wings and a pouch belt.

Doctor Walker, ever the cynic, just face-palmed, "It could just be a random bunch of particles, albeit a big one." She turned to the penguin creature, "Besides which, I don't know what you're getting so excited about, Zephyr." She looked at it with disgust, "You wouldn't get much out of this; you're just a Prinny."

Zephyr grimaced, "I still have rights, Dood" he sighed.

Felicia became outraged, "What about those people you robbed in your previous life? What about their rights?" she yelled.

Harry stood up and put a comforting hand on his colleague's shoulder, "C'mon Felicia, let's not start a fight." He said with a soothing tone. She took a deep breath and calmed down. "Anyway, he's right. This could make us millionaires." He got his grin back.

A high pitched bleeping from the frequency monitor surprised them. Felicia rushed to the screen, "What is it?" Harry asked with a mix of nervousness and excitement.

Felicia rolled her eyes, "malfunction", she said with dismay. "It thought, for a split second, that those Tachyon particles of yours registered as one solid object."

_Earth Orbit,_ _Co-ordinates 515-by-421_

"We are detected"


	2. Chapter One: Domestic Issues

Chapter One- Domestic Issues

_Gehenna Netherworld, Capital, Overlords castle_

Laharl dismissed the latest challenge to his throne with ease. He sighed, maybe his subjects would think he had gone soft for letting the challenger go with only a broken arm and fractured skull.

In letting the bastard live, he had only invited more challengers to claim his throne for themselves. Twenty years back, this would have excited him, but now the great overlord didn't need the hassle. He didn't have enough on his plate already!

His queen, Flonne, was off doing trade negotiations, with Earth of all places! What could Earth possibly offer his mighty kingdom? An inferior race could be of no benefit to him. Why was she bothering? It was causing both of them great stress and little good could ever come from it. What's more, whatever she was trying to get out of them, she was trading Prinnies for it!

Worse still, King 'goody-goody' Hentry of Earth was putting the Prinnies to work in scientific research. They're servants, not goddamn scientists! If you're going to use them, use them properly.

Laharl relaxed back into his throne, for the first time in months, he was relaxed… kinda. He hadn't got a wink of sleep since Christmas. There was this weird ringing in his ears, nobody else could hear it, but it was there. Was he going crazy?

"Damn the insomnia, damn these challengers and most of all damn these stupid trade talks!"

"Err… Your highness, are you talking to me? Dood."

Laharl looked down to the Prinny. It stood there, with that same vacant expression that it and all of its brethren constantly had welded to their faces. He realised that he had been thinking aloud.

"No" Laharl sighed after hesitation. "Just go back to whatever it was you were doing." The Prinny obviously noticed that his master was not his usual self. Which, all things considered, was not necessarily a bad thing for the little servant creature.

Five minutes of sulking on the throne later, the main castle door opened slowly with a loud creak. Queen Flonne stepped through the door. "Guess who!" she said joyfully. Laharl's mood improved enormously.

...

Elsewhere in the castle, Etonne, the daughter of Flonne and Laharl, stayed concealed in her room. It was what most girls only dreamed of, a spacious room, her favourite colours, red, blue, purple, emblazoned on the walls, giant TV, mahogany closets of all the clothes and shoes she could ever want.

Etonne herself looked like what most teenage girls would do anything to look like. Despite her age of 17, her face was totally free of acne. Her long, silky smooth hair, blue like her father's, had been conditioned to perfection. She was dressed in a red blouse, black skirt, both made from the finest materials and a solid gold ring on her left pointer finger, complete with 5 karat blood diamond.

Both her angel and demon heritage showed on her back. She had a dark, bat-like demon wing below her right shoulder and a dove-like angel wing below her left.

At this point, Etonne was what her irritating brother would refer to as 'seriously P.O'd.

Why couldn't her father just leave her and her boyfriends alone? Most of them had hidden themselves away for fear that her father may rip them to shreds for having the audacity to come anywhere near her.

Where was Mom? She's at least accepted that Etonne wasn't a baby anymore and was, inevitably, going to be the object of boy's attention.

She looked at the window, from behind the curtains came a tapping sound.

...

In the castle kitchens, a select few of the Prinnies were preparing that evening's meal, spicy volcano soup, a delicacy that was almost exclusive to the Gehenna Netherworld.

Suddenly, the door burst off of its hinges. Standing in what was once the doorway was an undersized boy of 10. He had short, greasy, blond hair with two, short antennae of the same colour and a kiddy-cute face which contradicted his demonic and spoilt character. This was Prince Ryouta, son of the Overlord.

His garb contested his royal birthright. He wore no top to speak of, except for a long, red scarf. He sported a pair of grubby, blue shorts, which he hadn't changed since his ninth birthday.

He marched into the kitchen, pushing, barging and flinging Prinnies from his path to confront the head chef.

"Where's my damn food!" he bellowed in his high-pitched, perverted voice, reminiscent, but not identical to his old man.

"It's not ready yet. Dood." The Prinny whined nervously. The young Prince growled. "But it will be soon!" The little creature reassured his master, sweating bullets, silently praying to God to spare its miserable life.

"It better be" Ryouta snarled. "Or I'm gonna repaint these walls in an awesome new colour I like to call 'Hint of Prinny guts." He turned and stormed out of the kitchen. This time, the Prinnies knew to stay out of his way.

...

Flonne took one look at Laharl and instantly knew what mood he had been in before she came in. "Uh oh" she said playfully, "What happened? How many Prinnies did you explode?" a hint of worry joined the playfulness.

Laharl blushed, no one else could figure him out to save their lives, yet she could read him like a book. Not that that was a surprise, after being married a certain amount of time; you get to know your partner better than you know yourself. "Could we talk about it later?" he sighed. "Oh and... four. They're being patched up now."

Flonne giggled "well it's an improvement from last time". "Oh by the way" she suddenly interrupted the moment of light heartedness "Good news".

She smiled sweetly, something she did a lot. How weird it was, when he first met her, Laharl couldn't stand her smile or optimism of any kind; now though, her angelic smile was a sight that warmed his demonic heart like no other.

She revealed a small handbag, rummaged around inside it and took out a small jar of emerald-green liquid. "Ta-Da!" She exclaimed happily.

The Overlord raised an eyebrow, why was his queen getting excited about some random green stuff? After a few seconds, it became clear that she was waiting for him to ask that very question. "Okay, I give up, what is that?"

"It's the answer to your sleeping problem!" Flonne declared. "It's an herbal remedy that is said to cure insomnia with 100% certainty!"

This is what Flonne had been trading Prinnies for. Earth got some cheap labour, the Prinnies were no doubt delighted to have new masters who don't kill them at the slightest provocation and Laharl gets a couple of thousand jars of these herbs and the good night's sleep that goes with them.

Everyone seemed like a winner, but events were about to get worse, starting directly after that. However, no domestic issues, no matter how heart wrenching they may be, could ever compare to the terror, the tragedy and the devastation that was to come on the following day.

For the next day would be the doomsday for Gehenna and all who dwell within.

...

Etonne pulled back her velvet curtains. Looking in was a brown haired demon boy wearing a black bandana, a leather battle vest and a pair of silk pants.

"Xander?" She recognised her current spouse. Etonne knew she had to keep her voice down, for 'Xandy' won't be in one piece for much longer if they were heard. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"C'mon babe" he whispered, with more than a hint of perversity "I know a place where his highness can't find us"

Thoughts of honour and loyalty to her father crossed her mind, but then again, they had done many times, and she had ignored them each time. This was no exception, "Where to Xandy?" she whispered seductively.


	3. Chapter Two: Children of Battle

Chapter Two- Children of Battle

_Veldime, Gate GZ256, Battle Colosium_

The Malchidael raised its enormous gun arm to dispose of its opponents once and for all. The twins, Shane and Sarah, were proving to be a far bigger pain in its ass then it ever could have imagined. Its partner, a skeletal dragon, had already been defeated. It was angry and seemed determined to disembowel, crush, or otherwise maim its adolescent adversaries.

However, Shane and Sarah appeared to be oblivious to the strong possibility of a challenge to their prolonged existence. The cheer of the crowds was in their ears, victory was in their sights and the adrenaline rush was unlike any prior experience.

The mighty beast swung for Shane who skilfully evaded. The next thing that the Malchidael knew, Shane's boot hit its jaw with bone crunching force, a lesser demon would have been unable to continue after such a blow.

Before the gargantuan monster could contemplate how unspeakingly furious it was about having its jaw broken by a teenage boy, its other enemy aimed a choice fire spell at its face.

As the fire erupted from her hands, Sarah knew that her and her brother's victory was just around the corner.

...

Up in the private viewing booth, Adell's parental pride reached mountainous heights. His twins, who he had raised along with Rozalin, were about to go to the grand final of the great tournament. He envisioned them holding the trophy, not to mention the prize money.

His wife, Rozalin looked into the pit of death that her children had gone into. Her mind buzzed with feelings of terror of the worst happening and the guilt of knowing that _she_ had encouraged her own son and daughter to enter this god-forsaken tournament for the sake of money. "What kind of Mother am I?" The question that she had been continuously asking herself since this fight began.

Meanwhile, the twin's kid sister, Katarina (or "Kat" as she had always preferred) was seething with jealously at her exclusion from her elder siblings' chance at stardom. She could fight to! With her trusty Desert Eagle in hand, no one, beast or humanoid, could stand before her. So why the hell was she not in the goddamn tournament?

Tink, in his newly restored human form (a stout, fat, grey-haired man wearing a leather jacket, even now, he was exceptionally toad-like) was in the corner weeping. They were winning; he was going to lose his bet!

...

The blood-red beast, now even more enraged from its unusable jaw and burnt skin, charged its beam. Its mechanical arm locked towards Sarah, who was temporarily shocked into the reality of the situation. It let out a massive roar and a rod of jet black energy exploded from its cannon.

The entire coliseum was bathed in darkness before the beam even found its mark. The vast audience of sociopathic demons munched on their popcorn and drank their drinks dry in a collective trance where the passage of food and drink down their gullet was the only function. Their bloodlust longed for the darkness to clear and whatever bloody bodily fragments remained of the twins to become visible.

...

Up in the booth, those closest to Shane and Sarah feared the worst (with the exception of Tink, who was mentally counting his winnings). Rozalin was on the verge of tears, Adell was cursing himself for letting them into the tournament and Kat was wondering which of their possessions would now become hers.

...

In the darkness, the beast smirked in triumph. Suddenly, an unseen blade severed the almighty weapon from its arm, it roared in agony and wrath. The monstrosity threw a blind punch with its remaining appendage. A sharp pain exploded in its gut, and spread rapidly like fire across the creature's body.

When the darkness cleared, the Malchidael looked in horror and humiliation, Sarah stood, a cocky and triumphant grin on her lips, holding a round blade; it was like a wheel, the outline was a lethal cutting edge, a large hole, enough so Sarah could hang it off her shoulder, took up the middle. This had been the end of days of the mighty cannon, which now lay sparking pathetically on the ground. The Malchidael looked down, with equal disgrace, to see Shane, his fist buried its stomach, piercing the flesh right the way through to, and out of, the monsters back. The mighty had fallen. The twins raised their arms in victory.

As the massive bulk fell backwards and crashed limply on the sand of the arena, the crowd roared. The thirst for blood was quenched; even if the victims were not who they were expecting. Adell breathed a sigh of relief. He was then over come with parental pride. "You see..." he turned to face his wife "I told you they'd be oka..."

Rozalin had fainted from the blood spatter that now encrusted all but a small portion of the viewing window. It erupted onto the window seconds before visibility returned; Roz had assumed that it was that of her firstborns, and had been dominated by distress.

Kat and Tink felt little but disappointment, Kat had lost her 'inheritance' and Tink had lost over 2,000,000 HL to those bastards at the betting office. "Sure-fire victory ma' eyeballs" he muttered in his signature accent.

...

_10 minutes later, Veldime, Gate GZ256, Battle Colosium, Backstage_

The backstage area, which remained virtually unchanged from when Adell fought in it years prior, was alive with applause for the "David and Goliath" victory. Sarah sighed and caressed her arm where the black beam had grazed it when she reacted a nanosecond too late. It was stinging unusually strongly for a mere skin wound. The beam must have had some sort of after effect, maybe a weak poison. Not that this was a problem of course; Fairie dust was very inexpensive, which was surprising given that it was the miracle cure-all that it was.

She was a beautiful 17-year old, the only 'flaw' was a pair of thin glasses. Her hair was a blazing red like her father's, unlike her father, hers was long, coming down to cover her entire neck at the back and half her forehead at the front. Her garb was rather surprising considering her blue-blood; a black tube top, with a white jacket over it and a pair of blue jeans. Being the sentimental sort, Sarah also wore items of great importance to her at all times; a cyan sash, which was flung over her shoulders, and an ice-coloured dragon necklace. These symbolised the continuation, through Sarah, of an ancient clan. It was a member of said clan, a wise, old human Kunoichi, who taught her so much, both on and off the battlefield.

Despite being twins, the siblings were not that similar. In contrast to his twin's patient and emotional character; Shane was what you would expect from a teenage boy: impulsive, something of a loud-mouth and tended to think with his fists. He was also slightly ostentatious, a trait that he inherited from his mother. This was not to say, however, that he was uncaring, he had a big heart but he was just a little reluctant to show it for fear of breaking his 'tough guy' image.

His hair was also fiery crimson, only his was cut short, like his father, but more so. Facially, he bared much resemblance to his old man, save for being a little thinner faced. His demeanour reflected the 'bad boy' impression that he wanted to project; he wore a black shirt under a trench coat, and gee trousers. The thing that seemed most out of place was a red tie; the same as worn by his father when he defeated an overlord.

Before too long, Shane was describing his victory in the most extravagant manner imaginable to a gang of 17 year-old girls, each of whom was hanging on his every word. Considering that, at his age, his father could hardly stand to be around girls, Shane's reputation as a ladies' man was quite surprising. He was tough, yet soft spoken, something which the female of most humanoid species, particularly demon, found most attractive.

...

The twins' family exited the booth to the backstage area; Adell was still oozing parental pride, as was Rozalin, though hers was tied in with a huge amount of relief (not to mention embarrassment, having just fainted).

Kat had not stopped complaining about all the attention that her elder siblings were getting since the fight ended; "I could'a taken out both those guys in half the time!" She yelled.

This woke Adell from his smugness trance. "Indoor voice, princess" he responded, softly but firmly.

"But, I could'a, Daddy! I totally could'a" She whined.

It wasn't as if Katarina always took a back seat to her brother and sister, she was just really attention seeking. Truth be told, she kind of reminded Adell of his step-sister when she was that age.

Adell and Rozalin thought it best not to congratulate the twins in front of their friends; teenagers tended to take humiliation from anything their parents did in public. Before too long, they had missed their chance; the twins had gone off to celebrate with their friends.

Indeed, they had gone to eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow, although they were blissfully unaware, they die. Everything dies tomorrow.

-Authors Note-

This is finally up! Sorry it took so long. Chapters 3 & 4 are in production, but might not be up until July (exams are a bitch!).

Ps; Sorry it's a little slow at the moment. It WILL pick up, big time.


	4. Chapter Three: Dark Preludes

Chapter Three- Dark Preludes

_June 25__th__ 2087, Earth Orbit, Earth Royal Yacht, Approaching Earth_

Barcoroidia, more commonly known as 'planet paradise', had been where Almaz and Sapphire had been vacationing the last four weeks. He couldn't believe it, he was returning from honeymoon with Princess Sapphire.

Him! The lowly guardsman who had been too terrified to even speak to her not too long ago. The more Almaz thought of it, the more he wondered whether he would still be the shy, nameless guard if not for his adventures in the Maritsu Netherworld.

He was awoken from his thoughts by his sweetheart next to him on the bed; she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. She was as sexy and cheerful as usual, but still, Almaz got the impression that something was on her mind.

After a few minutes, it became apparent that she wasn't going to tell him what the matter was unless he asked (or, knowing Sapphire, she **wanted **him to ask her, a tactic she used when he annoyed her in order to make him feel guiltier).

"So…" he started "… what's up? Have I irritated you?"

"No you haven't" she replied quietly. She paused. "Almaz, how did that screening go for you?"

She was referring to a screening for some kind of virus that had broken out somewhere on Barcoroidia. Being the panicking sort, Almaz immediately assumed the worst.

"Why?" He asked, flustered. "Oh lord, you came back positive didn't you?"

She squeezed his neck "don't be stupid" she retorted. "They wouldn't let me go if I had it"

"Oh yeah" he said. His face was red, partially from embarrassment and partially from oxygen deprivation.

She sat up. "No, when they were scanning me, they found something. They double-checked."

Almaz was sitting up now too, and had turned the light on. "What is it?"

She looked him in the eye and smiled. "I'm pregnant"

Almaz was overcome with joy. "Yes!" He cried "Oh Saph, I love you so much". He was already planning the celebrations for when he got back to Earth.

Tragically, the pair never made it back to Earth. No-one knows what happened, no wreckage was ever discovered, it seemed that the King, Queen and unborn Prince had just disappeared without a trace. After a year they were presumed dead

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Deans Office, 400 years later_

Mao looked gravely at his latest heart scan; his condition had deteriorated again. He cupped his face in his hands and looked at the scan again, hoping that, maybe, he had imagined it and he was absolutely fine. But as usual, he was right; he was, as he had suspected, dying.

He had conducted all manner of experiments on his Prinny servants, done hours of research and tried countless healing spells, all turned out the same result: nothing.

'Deformis Kardiá', that was its scientific name, a mix of Greek and Latin, two Earth languages. Otherwise known as 'The Reapers Clay'. It was an extremely rare heart disease that pumped weird chemicals into the heart which mutated it to such an extent that it was, literally, unable to beat. Its title didn't mattered, it was still killing him and there was still no known cure.

Usually, a person is in a state of 'death' just before the heart stops beating. However, if the heart stops first, death is a very long and excruciating process as bodily function slowly grinds to a halt.

He hadn't told his family, how could he? He had defeated Overlords twice as powerful as himself, he had been the Netherworlds number one honour student almost from the moment he could talk, he had butted heads with, and won the heart of, the most 'badass' delinquent in the universe. Yet, he had not the courage to look into the eyes of that same delinquent and tell her that, before too long, she would become a widow, or into the eyes of his 4-year-old daughter, Umeka, and tell her that her Daddy won't be around much longer. He couldn't tell Cubelle either; she was his step-daughter, whom Beryl had adopted years ago upon the death of the child's own father at the hands of a great evil. She had already lost one father too early.

Geoffrey knew; he was there, two months ago, when Mao found out that 'Deformis Kardiá' was going to succeed where hundreds of assassins had failed. It made no sense even then, the disease has never been recorded as being airborne; it was exclusively ingested, often from low-quality drinking water, which, considering his position seemed unlikely to be the cause.

A knock came on the door. Mao scrambled to try to hide the scan, looking around for a hiding place that neither his wife nor daughters would find it. In the end, the bottom draw on the left hand side of his desk sufficed; there was rarely anything of interest in there. Unluckily, this was full, but Mao didn't have time for a second thought.

"Mao? You in there?" Asked Beryl from behind the door.

"One sec!" the Overlord replied, trying to force the overflowing draw closed.

...

Raspberyl stood at the door, awaiting her husband's emergence from the office. "Funny..." she thought; "he's been spending a lot of his time in there lately". He must have thought she was blind, anyone could have seen that something was bothering him.

Even little Umeka, in all her innocent naivety, was beginning to see that something was wrong.

Mao hadn't done any honour student stuff. He hadn't taken her out. He hadn't even done anything with Umeka for over a month. He just sat in his office, all alone, occasionally having Geoffrey bring him food and drink; he didn't even eat with them anymore.

After about a minute, the door opened. "Hey Beryl" he said weakly.

"Just so you know..." she sighed with little interest, "... that speech you have to give to the new freshmen is in ten minutes"

Mao grimaced, he had forgotten entirely about that speech. It was surprising that he had, he gave one every year to each new year of freshmen. He supposed it wouldn't matter too much if this year's speech was below average; he doubted any of the demon freshmen ever paid any attention anyway.

He turned to walk back into his office, but was stopped by Beryl holding his arm. "What's wrong?" She said this, not in the sympathetic way that one would expect, as she had asked before, but firmly, demanding an answer. She was sick to death of being kept in the dark.

He was stuck; he would have to tell her. But still, as he looked her in the eye, he just couldn't muster the strength to tell her something that would break her heart. Mao had tried to do so for ages, but he failed himself each time.

The corridor was in silence for what seemed like a long time. Finally, he broke the silence, it was now… or never. "Beryl…" She looked up at him, he felt the pain of what was about to come out almost as much as she would. "I... I'm…"

Suddenly, he stopped, he felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest. This was not an emotional pain, but a physical one. He couldn't help but groan under the torment, after several seconds which passed like hours to him, he collapsed unconscious.

Raspberyl was horrified, she called to him but there was no response of any kind. She cradled him, "Mao?" She shouted repeatedly "Mao!" Panic was starting to set in. Not to mention a hint of guilt.

…

All things considered, Geoffrey was remarkably calm and even nonchalant. His purpose in life had been to serve Mao after being defeated by him, as far as he was concerned it was only a minor setback that he was dying. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realised that, sick or not, Geoffrey's perfect revenge would have been the last thing that Mao would have experienced anyway. If anything, his plan had improved.

Umeka emerged from her playroom, which was filled with the many thousands of gifts that her parents had showered upon her, she had been playing with friends all day, the last had just gone home, Marina, she was picked up by her mother, who wore black and spoke strangely (she had heard people call her tones 'Ruski', whatever that meant).

She was a very young child, three years old by human standards. Her hair was long and snowy white, she wore a cute little green dress and had an adorable face that had been known to melt the hearts of even the most stony hearted demon.

"Hey Geoffrey" she said suddenly, causing him to almost fall onto the table he was polishing and snapping him out of his rage-induced trance. He heard a little giggle at his expense.

He quickly regained his composure and turned and bowed, at which the laughter quickly ceased. "Yes, young mistress" he said.

She put her hands behind her back respectfully, though it was obvious that the scare she'd given him had retained its hilarity. "I have a question about today's lessons". Geoffrey turned his head to listen. "That thing you said…" she continued "about demons needing to relish solitude".

"What about it, young mistress?"

She tilted her head "What does solitude mean?"

Geoffrey sighed deeply. "It means to be on one's own"

"Oh" Umeka acknowledged. She looked back at him "How are you supposed to put relish on that?"

He found himself sighing again, he was sure she only did this to annoy him. But his moment of self-pity was short lived, as he heard Queen Raspberyl summoning him; it sounded very urgent. "Maybe he's copped it already" he thought to himself before running to meet her.

Umeka grew worried, her Mommy sounded scared. Her Mommy was **never** scared, so something must be very wrong. She had realised that something was wrong for ages, the fact that, before, her Daddy had always had time for her, and now, she rarely saw him had taken up the majority of her thoughts. Her friends were often invited by her Mommy, they distracted Umeka from her thoughts, but the question of why her Daddy was constantly locked away always reared its head.

But, alas, although Umeka was right to be worried, and Raspberyl to be frightened, something far worse and far more terrifying was on its way, and would strike this little family soon, and before everyone else.

_Sorry this took so long, I haven't done anything on this story for about six months. However, now that I'm back in the habit, you should see at least one or two chapters go up before the end of the summer. Have a great vacation _


	5. Chapter Four: Anarchy and Embarrasment

Chapter 4: Anarchy and Embarrassment

_Gehenna Netherworld, Forest of the Damned, Exact Location Unknown_

A stinking and perishing forest, why had Xander dragged Etonne to here? If he was planning what she thought (not to mentioned hoped) he was planning, she could think of an infinite number of places that would be better suited for doing 'that'.

The forest, if one could call it that, was long dead; hundreds of diminutive, burnt stumps that were once mighty trees, the ground, once rich with emerald green, now covered in a layer of ash. This once vibrant forest was burnt to the point of death during a struggle between Etonne's father and some demon whose name escaped her (Her father called him a 'mid-boss,' whatever that meant).

Xander turned back to his royal girlfriend. "So..." he said with a twisted smirk "...just me and you."

She merely said "mm-hmm" in acknowledgement. Etonne was starting to get a little creeped out. She had a sneaking suspicion that this little liaison may be more than a simple wish for 'fun.' Of course, she was more than prepared for such an eventuality.

He started to walk around her; she kept her eyes on him. "No Mommy or Daddy around, huh?"

Etonne sensed that her suspicions may be right; she felt like they were not alone. "What do you have in mind, Xandy?" She asked, trying to sound oblivious to the surrounding unseen eyes.

"Speaking of your parents..." He unsubtly disregarded the question. "...they must care very deeply about you..." Etonne grew ever cagier. "... and they must have a lot of spare HL in the bank. They are the sovereigns after all."

Now seeing his intentions, she could restrain herself no longer; she unsheathed a diamond bladed sword and struck an elegant fighting pose. "Okay, Xander..." she scanned her surroundings once again, seeing small movements that were invisible beforehand "... who else is here?"

Xander let out a short, sinister chuckle "Oh, just a few friends I've invited to help the proceedings, babe."

Four of the dead stumps grew clawed tentacles; each one developed two cracks which turned into black eyes with a disturbing red circle in the centre. They shambled toward Etonne with the jagged cracks that were their mouths curved into perverted grins.

From behind one of the few intact trees came another demon, this one was humanoid. A tall, slender demon girl of around Etonne's age. Her hair was a cascade of pink, she wore a white tank top and a pair of jean shorts. As well as a belt that held a sheathed knife along with other trinkets, clearly none of which had been obtained legally.

She gazed at Etonne with an evil smirk. Etonne knew just from looking at her that she was a low-life, the sort of demon that, in the days of her parents' youth, would have been a model member of the species. But in the present, she was exactly what Etonne had labelled her; a low-life, nothing more. The Princess thought that she was just the kind of scum that her brother would admire, being the fan of the 'old ways' that he was.

Ignoring the crystalline blade pointing in his direction, Xander eyed the new arrival with a lustful stare, he moved over to her and they kissed passionately. After their lips parted, the Girl gave Etonne a cheeky wink.

Etonne was shocked and infuriated at this development; Xander was cheating on her! Her! He was two-timing the Princess of Gehenna! With this low-class trash! "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she exploded. The ground trembled under her outrage.

It wasn't even that she was particularly fond of him. "How dare you cast me aside for sake of a... Tank Top!"

Xander nonchalantly shrugged off the outbursts. "Hey, hey..." he said with little interest for her anger, "... What we had was fun." "It got me where I needed to be" he said rubbing his arm and wincing.

Etonne smirked, "So, it was you who my Dad just stopped whaling on." She started to giggle, "I've seen Prinnies give him more of a challenge than you did." She had now progressed into full blown mirth "You got swatted aside like a pathetic, little fly"

It was Xander's turn to explode "I was off my game, that's all!" He took a step forward, his hand on his own weapon. His new spouse held him back.

"Now, now sugar..." she whispered, in a somewhat rural accent "... There'll be plenty of time for that messy business"

Etonne's laughter had made her forget about the treants that were now surrounding her, two of whom grabbed her arms with their clawed tentacles, causing her to drop her sword, another two grabbed her legs. They held her suspended in the air. By this point Xander's pathetic loss had lost its hilarity. She struggled against them, to no avail.

The pink haired girl walked toward the grabbed Etonne, whom the treants had lowered, her arms and legs still immovable, to be face to face with her. "Hi sugar..." she said patronisingly, "the name's Jana, former master thief, bounty hunter extraordinaire and, if your ol' papa don't pay up, the last face ya'll ever see..."

…

_Gehenna Netherworld, Overlord's castle, Capital_

Ryouta had taken his rage out on the Prinnys; that was what he did. That was the way that a demon should act. Yet, in Ryouta's day and age, Prinnys were no longer to bear the brunt of their master's anger, one was now expected to give charity to those below him, and, perhaps most sickeningly, one was to think of humans as equals. Truly the world had gone mad.

He had always held a certain amount of contempt for this new world order, something in him was always offended by anything to do with it. It wasn't, however, until his History tutor's droning reached recent Netherworld history. He was fascinated by the episodes of demonhood of old; the conquest, the glory, the battle. He was told of demons whose names were feared for their power and relentless hunger for more. Names like Baal, Zenon, Zeta, Pram and Laharl.

His Father's background was a great source of pride for him, he then discovered, on the only occasion in his life where he bothered to study anything, that his family reputation extended beyond his Father or even his Grandfather. For generations, his family had been feared and respected Overlords.

He longed for those days, those days that he never saw, he longed for the grandeur of being a warrior king. Some day he would be Overlord and would continue his family tradition. He would carry his family name to glory once again.

"Yo Prince Ryouta, wake up, dood!" A Prinny jolted him awake from his daydream. He found himself in the large hallway outside the kitchen. The Prince made a growling noise and immediately the Prinny knew that it had made a grave mistake.

The diminutive Prince turned and glared at the penguin like creature, "You have five seconds to tell me a good reason for disturbing me before I satisfy my curiosity as to what a Prinny looks like from the inside!" He yelled with more than a little gratification.

The Prinny was now sweating bullets, trying its hardest to find its tongue before the five seconds were up. "I just thought you ought to know that your Mother is back dood!" it whined at an alarming pace.

"Huh? Where has she been all day?" he asked in a quieter tone.

The servant still felt as if it was under a guillotine, now more than ever. "Uh… I don't know, dood" the Prinny replied fearfully.

The prince's scarf swiftly entangled and lifted the Prinny about ten feet off the ground "You do know don't you?" the Prince whispered frighteningly quietly.

"Uh…" the Prinny whimpered, feeling the squeeze of the scarf. Before long, it could hardly breathe "she went to Humans world, dood. Please don't squish me dood!" It finally answered in a panicked scream.

Ryouta ground his teeth and looked ready to explode at the notion that his own Mother would associate herself with the world of the lesser species. He then seemed to compose himself as he took out a small piece of paper and wrote something on it. "That's for you" he said to the Prinny before lowering it to hand it the paper.

The Prinny hesitantly read the paper; at the top, 'Change of address' was written in almost illegible writing. Below this was, in equally ugly font, 'Stupid Prinny' and 'the air we breathe.'

"Uh oh" whinged the Prinny seconds before it was hurled across the room. It landed with the traditional Prinny explosion.

The ground rumbled, which alarmed Ryouta because it was not a usual consequence of an exploding Prinny. However, he immediately dismissed it; it had not been that big a rumble after all.

…

Satisfied with how he dealt with the situation, Ryouta strode down the hall toward the throne room. Here he saw his Father examining a small phial of green stuff inquisitively.

"Where's Mom?" Ryouta asked impatiently, but respectfully.

"In the dining hall" his Father replied, not taking his eyes off the phial, like it was the answer to all his problems.

Ryouta entered the dining hall, where his Mother was chatting to his Aunt Etna while Prinnys laid the table for dinner. Flonne caught sight of him "Hi sweetie-pie!" she said in the most sickeningly motherly voice imaginable.

"Please don't call me that" Ryouta whined in humiliation. He saw some Prinnys snickering out of the corner of his eye. He shot them a threatening glare and they stood to attention, trying to stop themselves bursting out laughing.

Shaking free from the hug, Ryouta attempted to regain some of his lost image by appearing nonchalant to the parental love being hurled at him.

"Anyway, what were you doing in the Human World?" he enquired with restraint.

Ryouta saw Etna face-palm and mutter something out of the corner of his eye. He got the impression that he was about to be told something that he was not going to like.

Flonne rolled her eyes, "What? No 'Hi Mommy, I missed you'? Just 'what were you doing'?

"Why, I'd almost say that you had no love for your darling Mother" she continued, though she did not mean this, putting her arm across her eyes in exaggerated, feigned grief.

Ryouta's face went beetroot red; was his Mother deliberately trying to humiliate him? What did he expect? She was an Angel; the vast majority of her kin were love freaks who were obsessed with the very goody-goody idealism that he so passionately despised.

Yet, he seemed oblivious to the fact that his Mother represented, and had even pioneered, the hated 'new way'. He could not disregard the family ties and the kindness and unconditional love that she had shown him all his life. It must have been the angel and disgusting human blood in him.

"Sorry…" he muttered to avoid this charade of sadness to become real, or worse more humiliating.

She looked down at him and smiled affectionately "Well if you _really_ have to know, I was in the Human world"

Immediately, Ryouta's ears perked up "What? What in the name of hell were you doing there?" he exclaimed in shock.

Equally jolly and nonchalantly as before, Flonne responded "Negotiating a trade"

Ryouta was even more offended by this, but before he could voice his distress, a Prinny poked its head round the door to the throne room. It looked somewhat panicked.

"Queen Flonne, there's something that requires your immediate attention, dood"

Seeing the Prinny's obvious unease, Flonne changed, she became very serious. She looked down at Ryouta, who was still reeling from what he had just been told "We'll talk later, okay." She went into the throne room.

Ryouta sighed heavily. Etna looked with concern towards the door "Gee, wonder what's up" she said with that casual indifference that Ryouta had come to expect from his Step-Aunt when the attention was not on her.

"What _was _Mom trading with the Humans anyhow?" he asked her.

"I dunno, some stuff for your old man" Etna replied almost uncaringly.

He shook his head "What happened to all that we stood for? Those traditional 'up yours everybody' demon values that our race once held so proudly"

Etna looked back at him, this time with a definite interest in her eyes "Well..." she looked a little disappointed at what was going through her own head. "... What can I say; things change bud"

Ryouta grinned in such a way that Etna could almost see his Father in him. "Don't you worry..." he muttered intensely. "As soon as I'm Overlord, they will change back, even if I have to go to the Human world and demonstrate to them how I'm nothing like my parents."

Etna felt a great rush of pride; her Step-Nephew was an O.G. Demon like her. How delightful!

...

The atmosphere was tangibly thick in the throne room, the Prinnies were all terrified, and it did not take long for Flonne to see why; Laharl was at the dimensional gate trembling with rage.

In front of him was a flying imp, a scroll in its hand. It looked around at Flonne with an evil smirk on its face. "Who are you?" she asked gravely.

"It matters not who I am" it rasped in reply "only who I represent, and what they have of yours"

Laharl clenched his fists and began to pace to relieve some the pent up tension. He seemed as though he wanted to tear the Imp apart piece by piece, but something held him back.

"What do you mean?" asked the concerned angel.

The Imp opened the scroll, seemingly relishing it. It began to read, a perverted hiss to its voice. "Dear King Laharl and Queen Flonne of Gehenna, we have your daughter..."

Flonne's consciousness of what was happening froze as soon as she heard those words, a flood of horrible memories came crashing into her psyche. Etonne had been taken from her once before; an experience which scarred mother and daughter alike. To this day, Etonne still retained terrible claustrophobia. She was so strong willed, yet enclosed spaces left her a gibbering wreck.

Flonne panicked that this episode may leave her scarred in some other way, assuming that they got her back at all.

The imp rolled up the scroll and tucked it under its arm. It was clearly enjoying Flonne's fear and Laharl's anger enormously. It had a cocky look on its face as it continued to tell the king and queen of what they must do if they wanted to see their daughter again.

The imp suddenly stopped, it put is hand to its ear, which seemed to contain some sort of earpiece. "What is it?" they heard it whisper.

"She what?" It yelled, looking around to Laharl worriedly and then turned back "How?"

"Problem?" Laharl asked from behind it. The imp turned looking as if it was staring at death itself.

"You don't look so confident anymore" Laharl growled. The imp was trembling. "Take me to my daughter"

The king had said it with such a quiet anger, the imp felt the power radiating from the Overlord. Power that could easily tear up the imps leathery hide like paper. Power that was barely being held back.

Its advantage gone, the imp had no choice but to comply.

_Really sorry, I know I said two more chapters by the end of the summer, but a series of seemingly other worldly phenomenon prevented me from finishing this chapter on schedule. My computer died, I got it fixed. My memory stick corrupts its files, I have to rewrite this chapter from scratch. Then I decide to change the structure of my story, without realising how much this would mess up my schedule._

_The good news is that chapters 6 and 7 are done, so as soon as I get chapter 5 done and dusted I'll do a triple update!_

_For those of you who are still reading this fic after all this time, thanks so much for your patience and sorry for the delays. Anyhoo in the words of a masked weirdo wrestler; HAVE A NICE DAY! _


	6. Chapter Five Blissful Ignorance

Chapter Five: Blissful Ignorance

_Veldime, Coliseum, Bar_

The tremor had been a shock, but it didn't cause any real damage, a few broken glasses, but nothing significant. It was only a minor rumble after all.

Within a minute, Adell, Rozalin and Kat, along with the rest of the bar, were returning to their previous conversations as if it had never happened. Theirs was of the battles gone and upcoming for Shane and Sarah, with Kat expressing her distaste in being left out of the tournament.

The trio were then treated to a familiar face, that of the self-proclaimed Dark Hero; Axel. Presently, he looked like he had just seen the barman point a group of baseball bat wielding lunatics in his direction.

This at least served to snap the three out of the trances of pride, guilt and jealousy respectively. Adell chuckled slightly "That quake give you a fright, Axel?"

Axel shook it off and tried to look nonchalant (with limited success) "The Dark Hero? Scared?" he gave a weak chuckle "No way! I'm just allergic… to the ground moving rapidly" he said sheepishly.

The joviality of Axel's unwarranted fear distracted them from the tournament for a while, but Axel immediately put them back on that track (primarily to shift focus away from himself). "So, those kids of yours, they're pretty impressive" he grinned "they're chips off the old block."

Adell was sent, once again, into a trance of parental pride. Rozalin was reminded of the culpability she felt for sending her children into that hell hole.

"Yo Axel!" Katarina blurted out. "You know I could have fought, right?"

He laughed "Ya' know, Kat; we're two of a kind; neither of us is ever recognised for our full talent" he stood away from the table looking up to the sky (well, the ceiling) with inspiration "Me, the unappreciated enigma, the Dark Hero. You, the youngest daughter of the greatest fighters in the universe, denied her birthright of glorious battle."

Kat went and stood next to him, an inspired flare in her eye, "Yeah! My birthright to win glorious battles as the ultimate warrior who don't take orders from no one! I'll kick more ass than anyone ever!"

Rozalin stood up with her hands on her hips "Katarina! Watch you're language young lady!"

"Yes mommy..." Kat whined pathetically, her rant severely derailed.

…

_Veldime, Night Club district_

"So, as you've probably heard, this wasn't the first time I've taken down a savage monster with nothing but my bare hands" Shane boasted to the hoard of girls who were hanging on his every word as he sat, cool as anything, drinking a cocktail the bar. Even the young and attractive barmaid had dropped her duties to listen to the tales of heroism.

"I remember once, I went into this cave… which was forbidden or something like that" he casually reported. "Just for the sheer hell of it, no real reason."

The surrounding girls leaned in to catch every word of this valiant tale. "Anyway, so, within a couple of minutes, I found out why it was forbidden..."

Sarah sat with a few friends, outside the crowd. She listened with distaste to her brother's exaggerated story. It was exaggerated in the same way that it was exaggerated to say 'heavy duty sports equipment' when referring to bowling shoes.

Nevertheless, Sarah waited for her ideal moment to humiliate him, to make him look like the moron he was. Though she doubted that, although it would give her the satisfaction of having ruined his chances of 'scoring', it would make much difference in the long run.

He would still be the centre of attention, in and out of the tournament, and she would still phase into the background as she always had. She was inferior in everyone's eyes, especially her Father's, although he was too nice to say it aloud.

Sarah's moment came when one of Shane's groupies asked him "were you scared?"

"Not until the giant Tarantulas showed up" Sarah interjected.

Shane immediately went beet-red. "I... I don't know what you might be talking about, Sis"

The girls turned their attention to Sarah. The boys who were at the table with Sarah struggled to withhold their mirth.

Shane began to sweat, he glanced at Tink, who was sitting at the bar, drinking himself stupid to forget about the money he lost. "T... Tink! A little help here!"

"Do not be looking at me" came the slurred response "Even when I am being tipsy, I 'ave ze sense to stay out of your disputes, Mon Aimée."

"I think they were complaining about the screech in villages several miles away" Sarah sneeringly continued.

Shane shook with rage, he would have claimed that she was lying, only she wasn't.

"Shut up!" he exploded "what the hell is with you? You think that just because of your inferiority complex, you have the right to make my life hell whenever you can?"

Sarah was angry now "You don't understand, you never understood how I feel! How I feel about being inferior to you in Mom and Dad's eyes!" Tears rolled from her eyes.

Tink stood up "Oh come now Mon Cherie, you know that zat is not true"

"Damn well stay out of this!" Sarah snapped.

The mood in the bar changed, everyone in there sensed a fight brewing.

Indeed it was, though not between the siblings. If this domestic squabble was a storm, then what was coming was a whole group of tornados.

Soon sibling rivalries wouldn't matter, all would be cast into the darkness soon.


	7. Chapter Six Eve of the End

Chapter Six: Eve of the End

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Infirmary_

It seemed like Raspberyl had been waiting for ages, with every second that passed the situation appeared bleaker. By this time, she had realised that his sickness was what he was keeping from her. She would have been angry, but her rage was buried beneath anxiety and fear.

As she looked at him, unconscious, unmoving on a hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines, she hung on his every breath, convinced it would be his last. She and Mao had known each other for as long as they could remember, their relationship had blossomed from friends, to rivals, to enemies and finally, to lovers. Now it all seemed close to the end. She felt guilty; maybe if she had inquired earlier he could have been saved.

She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder, she knew who it was instantly; Cubelle, their step-daughter, looked at her with sorrow. She fiddled with her long, black hair, something she always did when she was uneasy.

Beryl stood up and they hugged. "Thank god you're here" she said.

"How could I not be?" Cubelle replied, dismay in her voice. "I owe my life to you guys, I would have just been some orphan that no one had cared about otherwise."

Raspberyl told her of the worries she had been having. "Hey…" Cubelle said reassuringly "…this is Mao we're talking about, he's way too arrogant to let some random disease kill him"

They managed weak smiles, but the doubts remained.

Just then, they heard a shout from down the hall. "DADDY!" Umeka came into the room as fast as she could go. Geoffrey came after her, trying to keep up.

Beryl looked down to her daughter in surprise and shot the Butler a glare.

"I thought I told you to put her to bed!" she snapped.

Geoffrey raised an eyebrow "She was most insistent" he replied.

Umeka tried to climb on the chair that her Mother had just been sitting on in an attempt to get a look at her Father. Beryl sighed, she realised how much this must have been killing Umeka.

"Umeka… I don't think that this is where you want to be right now" she said gently.

"But, I wanna see him" she said with an almost sobbing tone.

Cubelle and Beryl looked at each other, unsure how to react. Whether to let her see her Father when he was so weak and sick or whether the sight would just crush her.

Truly a tragic day this was, but the tragedy would soon turn to horror. As has been stated before; everything has its time, and that time was to begin at that very moment.

Suddenly the ground shook with such ferocity that it overturned beds and sent most of the bystanders crashing to the floor. It was a tremor that reached across dimensional gaps and caused other Netherworlds to tremble.

Before anyone could get their bearings, a sound came from the only bed left unturned. Mao had taken a sharp intake of breath and was now sitting bolt upright with his eyes wide.

When Mao awoke his family and Geoffrey were staring at him in shock. He saw Beryl say something to him, but he couldn't hear her; the noise in his head was too loud. He heard a faint, deep, sinister laugh (which made his own evil laugh seem inadequate).

"Mao, are you okay?" Cubelle asked with concern.

He put his hands to his face, seemingly oblivious to the question. "Something's coming…"

"What is? What are you talking about?" asked Raspberyl.

"No…" he hissed "…it's already here!"

…

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Outer grounds_

The quake had drawn a lot of attention, which was to be expected seeing as it had toppled buildings and caved in classrooms (which annoyed delinquents). As such, a large crowd had gathered to what had been the epicentre.

However, it was what was at the epicentre, rather than the quake itself, that had really drawn the crowd; a large cylinder, around twenty feet high and forty feet long, had crashed into the ground.

Never before had such fear and curiosity crept in among the delinquents and honour students alike. No one could explain it; it was the stuff of fiction, yet there it was. You could cut the tension with a knife.

Even the most powerful of demons were apprehensive. The staff stayed well back, well aware that it may well be a prank by one of the honour students that would explode into confetti, or worse. All but one; the Home Ec' teacher; one Mr Champloo.

He gazed upon the cylinder with worried eyes; it was like a stew, which contained a poisonous vegetable. What's more, he got the feeling that everyone here was about to be force fed that deadly broth.

He stood not alone, along side him was Salvatore, one of the greatest of Maritsan demons. She was confident that whoever or whatever was in that cylinder, if anything was in there, it would be no match for her, for she was Salvatore the Magnificent.

She looked at the old man standing beside her, and rolled her eyes at his concern. "I will destroy the occupants" she said in her signature accent "You need not concern yourself old man."

He did not look at her; his eyes did not leave the mystery. "Can't you feel it?" he asked her gravely. "This risotto we call life is about to burn; and no amount of stirring will help it"

"No 'Boom' after the food pun, Champloo?" jokingly asked what humans would refer to as an upper class English accent from behind them "we **must** be screwed!"

Salvatore turned to her husband "Albion! Where have you been?" she demanded "I ordered you get here an hour ago." Although, she had learned that he was the one person she could not order around, nor vice-versa.

Albion shrugged "Hey, I had to kneecap a particularly cocky honour student to even get here."

Salvatore shot him a glare, his nonchalant nature annoyed her a lot "Such insolence sets a bad example for Marina. Where is she anyway?"

"Here I am!" said a small voice from below her field of vision.

Salvatore looked down at her young daughter and smiled. The sight of her little girl warmed her heart like no other. "Hello sweetie" she said gently and picked her up "were you a good girl for Papa?"

"Yup" Marina replied cheerfully before looking at the mysterious thing that had drawn them all here "what's that?"

"We don't know" answered Mr Champloo.

Marina's attention then turned to the old demon. "Hey, you're that freaky guy who always talking about food"

Albion rushed over "Sweetheart, let's not be rude now"

"Huh?" Marina replied "but that's what you called him, Papa"

Albion jostled with an embarrassed look on his face. Salvatore rolled her eyes.

"Joke while you can" Champloo finally replied "humour is the sugar in this coffee, without it, life is as bitter as black coffee"

Albion sighed "I have absolutely no idea what you just said, but I'm sure it was very intellectual"

Salvatore shot him a glare, "So, where is our mighty Overlord?" she inquired "I thought he'd be trying to take that thing apart with a scalpel by now"

Marina frowned "Umeka says her Papa won't come out of his office anymore." Umeka and Marina were best friends, and Marina, even with her innocent naivety, could see clearly that Umeka was so sad, despite how happy she acted.

"Yes" Champloo sighed "it would seem that he has soured like year-old milk"

"Speak the Queen's English, man" Albion said

"He means he's depressed, dear" Salvatore explained

Albion looked at her, puzzled "How can you understand him, Tori?"

Champloo looked right in Albion's eyes, "It's because she hasn't rotted her brain with Whiskey"

Albion ran his hand over his short, blonde hair and clicked his tongue "Well, that was certainly clear"

Marina giggled silently, she liked it when her Papa and the freaky food guy met; it was usually very funny.

However, the following events stopped the child's laughter; in fact, she would never laugh again.

Without warning, the protruding end of the cylinder emitted an ear splitting groaning sound; it started to open.

The end of the canister loudly edged out from the main body and crashed to the ground. The crowd gathered at the opening, eagerly awaiting and ready to fight whatever intruder was inside. Albion, gun prepped, pushed Marina behind him.

"Ready for this, Tori?" he asked his wife. She kept her eyes and her weapon firmly locked on the darkness inside the canister. He shrugged again "Stupid question."

Then, as suddenly as the canister had opened there was a terrible screech and a small ball of red light rocketed out of the blackness and struck a ronin in the heart. He immediately dropped his sword as the red light spread across his entire form, leaving no flesh visible. His blood-red outline then shattered like a window with a bone chilling screech. It was all over in less than half a minute. The crowd dispersed; the air was filled with screaming and cursing.

The time was now.


	8. Chapter Seven The Slaughter

Chapter Seven: The Slaughter

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Outer grounds_

Slowly but surely, a clawed hand reached out of the darkness and latched onto the rim of the opening. A smell of rotting, of decay, filled the air with an unpleasant taste as a companion. The creature hauled itself out of the canister sluggishly. It looked around, judging its surroundings, sizing up the members of the crowd, as one would inspect lobsters in a tank in a restaurant.

It was around seven feet tall, its entire body clad in iridescent armour which sported pulsating tubes which circulated around the entire body like diseased veins; they were pumping a jet black liquid into occasional holes in the armour from a source in the creature's chest. The head was shaped like that of a serpent and had two goat-like horns protruding from the back. Its entire face was masked by the armour, only its eyes showed, two disc-like, bloodshot eyes. They had a peculiar look; indifferent, but hiding a savage madness. There was also a small, rectangular hole which revealed a lipless, wrinkled mouth which flapped in silent muttering.

The crowd immediately attacked it in blind panic and fury, determined not to end up like the Ronin. The creature held its ground, indifferent and seemingly oblivious to the mob that was intent on killing it.

When the first sword struck, the armour flashed red at the point of impact. The attacker recoiled as though he had struck a wall; the creature stood there as if nothing was happening. Other demons swung their blades, all met with the same result.

Mages and skulls rained down spells; ice, fire, wind, star, they all were just absorbed. Still it stood like a statue it the mist of swinging steel and powerful magic.

Salvatore and Albion could not even see the creature anymore through the wall of attacking demons, let alone get a clear shot. That chance was about to come.

After about five minutes of staring into space, the creature raised its head in an enlightened way; as if a question that had been gnawing at its mind had been answered at last. It raised its arm and pressed a button on it. In less than a second a shockwave sent the surrounding demons flying as if they were leaves in the wind, but with the speed of bullets out of guns. Those who had the wisdom to stay back looked horrified at the seemingly invincible creature as the attackers landed back to the ground with the sickening sound of crunching bones.

The rest of the demons then realised that they were in grave danger. They ran around in hysteric terror, pushing and trampling each other underfoot in an attempt to escape the creature.

Salvatore was taken aback but still determined to take this thing down. She fired all six rounds from her gun into the creature. It didn't even notice. She growled; it couldn't possibly resist **her**. She then felt an ecstasy; it was a great opponent, she would have greatly enjoyed fighting it.

As she was about to run towards it, Albion grabbed her arm. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!" he shouted above the riots. His face was now deadly serious, a very rare phenomenon.

She turned to see him carrying Marina, who he had scooped up to save her from being trampled by the stampede. She came to her senses; her family came first. For the first time in her life, she ran away.

…

Mr Champloo stared at the invader; it raised its arm, revealing a barrel-like hole above its wrist. It now turned its attention to the remainder of the crowd, for it emitted a screech, identical to the one before the ronin died, and a blood-red sphere came hurtling out from the barrel, striking a demon and disintegrating him as before.

No sooner was one shot fired did the creature fire another; a demon was killed each time. Just as Champloo thought the horror had reached its peak, he saw something which broke his spirit; two more figures were emerging from the canister who imminently joined the slaughter.

He understood now what he had to do, this image gave him an epiphany as to why he existed; he was to do all he could to let the crowd escape. It was his duty as a teacher and as a friend of the overlord. He sprinted through the frenzy toward the creatures and stopped in front of them.

Just as one of the creatures saw him and raised its arm, he summoned all of his power to conjure a giant force field between the demons and the creatures. The creatures reclined in instinctive surprise, but they retained their indifference. In a moment, all three creatures raised their arms and began firing.

With each shot, it became more difficult to maintain the force field. Champloo looked behind him; the crowd were now about a kilometre away. He had bought them some time. He was satisfied with his preparation.

A second later, the field gave out. He looked back toward the creatures, who all had their weapons trained on him.

"Well…" he said "…at least we now know that you're not quite the perfect dish after all."

The middle creature fired.

As the defender shattered, they looked up towards their cannon fodder, which had split into two groups, fleeing in different directions. The creature that had originally come out of the canister gestured to one of its subordinates to pursue the lesser group. It raised its hand to shoulder height in acknowledgement before obeying.

The remaining two set off after the larger group, headed toward the academy.

…

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Infirmary_

"Grr! Get it out of my head!"

Mao had been hysterical since the quake; clutching his head and screaming at and about the noise in his head. The Doctors and Nurses were attempting to restrain and sedate him, with no success.

"This is indeed puzzling…" Geoffrey nonchalantly remarked "His condition has no such symptoms as this."

Beryl was in tears by now; "Is that all you have to say?" she screamed. "He's dying damn it!"

Cubelle watched her Step-Parents with hopeless dismay. She held Umeka in her arms, who had buried her little face in her older sister. She too was sobbing.

Just then the doors burst open; a Ninja and a Thief came charging in in a fit of panic and at once began to barricade the door.

"What the hell is going on?" the head Doctor inquired angrily "since when did I have a sign on my door saying 'specialising in freaks'?"

"It's coming" breathed the Ninja.

Meanwhile, the Thief was in the corner hyperventilating, muttering to herself; "I'm dead, I'm screwed, I'm dead, we're all going to die…" her chattering continued like that.

"What's going on?" asked Cubelle.

The Ninja looked at her; never had she seen so much pure fear in a demon. His eyes were like those of someone in front of a moving train, he was breathing so fast and deep. "The rumble…" he said "… it was because of some space pod… it crashed… and now they're killing us like animals… couldn't hurt them… invincible."

…

Mao was begging; begging for the noise to stop. It was so loud; he could make no sense of it.

He could see his family standing away from him, the succubus nurses trying to stop him thrashing, the newcomers in fits of terror.

Then he got his wish; a crash on the door awoke him from his trance. It also made the nurses who had been wrestling with him step back. Then, he had an unnatural experience, all sound in the room diminished, and the voice, the one that had been laughing, said "Run… run away if you want to live."

Mao was now back to reality, he was unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, he felt someone throw their arms around him. "Mao!" shouted Beryl, "are you okay?" he could hear sadness and fear in her voice.

He remembered the words of the voice. He wasn't sure how, but he immediately knew that fighting whatever was trying to break down the door was pointless.

"We've got to get out of here." He held Beryl by her shoulders. "Beryl, listen, we've got to get out right now."

She had never seen him like this; he was usually prepared, even eager, for a fight. Now he was telling her, his face serious and tone intense, that they must flee. The barricade was beginning to give.

"Grab Umeka and run" he continued. She nodded.

Cubelle struck a fighting stance, ready for whatever was about to burst in. But Mao stood up from the bed, grabbed her arm and tugged her back. She looked back at him with disbelief. This was not like him at all.

"Trust me" he said.

And she did trust him, with her life, and more.

They followed Beryl and Umeka, as well as the other occupants, out of the room and into a narrow corridor, closing the door behind him. The head doctor produced a set of keys and desperately tried to unlock the aging and rusty escape door that stood before them, leading to the outside. Just then, a loud explosion came from behind them, and seconds later, the door they had just come through shattered in red.

They caught sight of the monstrosity standing there, Umeka screamed in terror. Its mad, bloodshot eyes flicking from person to person for a few seconds. The cracked mouth continued to silently murmur to itself. It raised its arm, on which was its tube-like weapon.

As before, it was bombarded with attacks, none of which concerned it in the slightest.

Cubelle then quickly shoved the doctor out of the way and kicked the door off its hinges. In the scramble to get out the door, the creature managed to pick off many demons. Of the fifteen that had been in the room, only five had made it outside; Mao, Raspberyl, Cubelle, Umeka and Geoffrey.

All realised that in their desperation had made a fatal error; they were outside, in the open, where the invader could pick them off with ease.

Yet the creature hesitated, seeming reluctant to kill them. Its eyes flicked this way and that, the mouth's murmuring sped up, as if it were contemplating what it should do next.

Cubelle had decided that the time for running was over; she leapt at the creature with the ferocity of a wild cat. She heard Mao yell 'no' behind her. The creature looked up at her nonchalantly and emitted its shockwave which sent her flying. She landed on her feet; but the power of the wave made her hit the ground hard enough to break her ankle.

The creature stood still for a few seconds, perhaps recharging.

There was no escape, unless… "You get away, I'll distract it" yelled Mao.

"I'm not leaving you!" sobbed Beryl.

"Let me be the decoy; I am injured!" shouted Cubelle.

Mao smiled sympathetically at them "I'm going down anyway, might as well go down fighting. That's what any Overlord worth his salt would do."

"Thank you, Beryl. I really don't know where I'd be without you" she saw tears in her eyes "I love you, girls. Take care of them Geoffrey."

"Very well" the butler replied coldly.

The creature had now finished charging and was advancing toward them. "Go now!" he yelled.

As he said that, a light shone from above, like the light from heaven. A space ship of Human design descended from the sky, getting between the creature and them. A door at just above ground level opened and a hand extended.

They didn't have time to ask questions; one by one, they took the hand and clambered onto the ship. Mao was last; after helping the injured Cubelle onto the ship, he took the hand himself.

He looked at the face of his salvation to see the face of one of his oldest and most trusted friends, the face of one he'd thought long dead.

"Almaz?"

…

_Maritsu Netherworld, Canister landing site, a few minutes later_

Shyrone clung to what was once a fraction of wall like a limpet. On the other side; a creature of horrible strength and murderous tendency.

He had managed to evade them when they first landed. He hid, such an act of cowardice was inexcusable for a demon, especially a Diez Gentleman, but to face these creatures was suicide. He seemed to have made the right decision to not run with the crowd anyway; in the distance, he saw Evil Academy in burning ruin, no sign of life.

The creatures had returned just a few minutes ago, clearly satisfied with their work. There were three of them. Just three of these things had subjugated one of the greatest of the Netherworlds.

For the first time in recent memory; he didn't care about his lost lunch money. His thoughts were on his own survival and that, in all likelihood, he was the last remaining Diez Gentleman.

He heard something, movement. Steps in his direction. He sat perfectly still and held his breath. He was sure that one of them had found him.

Suddenly, he became aware of a bright light from behind him. He hesitantly looked around the wall.

To his horror, he saw the three creatures, and one more.

There was another flash of light and another appeared as if from thin air. The light resonated from what appeared to be a lamp being held by one of the invaders.

The lamp shone again, another appeared, and another, and another. In the space of about two minutes there were too many to count.

Then one of them placed a large, black pole with a violet orb on the end in the ground. Another did the same a few feet away. The orbs flashed and the two were connected by a violet sheet of light.

It opened like a curtain; on the other side was a castle in the distance. Shyrone recognised the castle, belonging to an overlord in another netherworld. A group of the creatures advanced into the image.

He saw two more poles being placed in the ground, the doorway to another netherworld opening. He then realised that they were using Maritsu as a nexus to the other worlds. It was a full scale invasion.

The creatures were still coming through the lamp, soon, there would be too many to hide from. Shyrone decided to make a break for it while he still could.

He turned and looked up; a pair of mad, bloodshot eyes gazed back at him. He swung a punch, only to be knocked away as if he had just punched a wall.

The creature nonchalantly raised its arm and ended his eternal hunt for his lost lunch money.


	9. Chapter Eight Hunted

Chapter Eight: Hunted

_Maritsu Netherworld, Ruins of Evil Academy_

Salvatore found herself in a situation which she had long dismissed as impossible; she was hiding. Under a fallen curtain of what was once a great building, standing proud in the academy, an indomitable structure where arrogance and pride were in ready supply. Now, all that was left was the broken supporting walls; a square of shattered bricks, the roof was gone, when she looked up, the familiar sight of a ceiling, above which over a hundred floors of demon honour students were doing their demonhood proud, was replaced by the uninterrupted view of a blood-red sky.

She was separated from Albion and Marina a few hours ago in the mad rush for safety, very few of which found it. She didn't know the fate of her family; though she found Albion's rather tactless sense of humour somewhat annoying at times, she had feelings for him that were unprecedented in her life. He was an idiot but she loved him.

How Salvatore longed to hear one of his 'inappropriate-in-the-current-situation' jokes, or indeed any hint that she may see him or her Marina again.

She wearily lifted the curtain slightly to look out of the doorway, several of the invaders were going into the remains of the buildings and meticulously searching for stragglers, like her.

A lone creature was roaming the outside of the buildings for the same purpose. Another thing then caught her eye, a large, violet light connecting two rods. One of the creatures walked up to it, having concluded that the building that it had been searching was empty, and stepped through it.

It was some kind of dimensional gate, not unlike those that demons used to get around the Netherworld, and to other worlds. Salvatore then had the stinging realisation that these creatures were everywhere, in every Netherworld.

However, she pinpointed a blind spot in the creatures views; a path that would not put her directly in the line of sight of one of the door ways to behind the gate. She was unsure how many of the creatures were behind the gate, but, then again, better to risk that then to sit in this building and wait to be found by these bastards.

Suddenly, a Warrior-class demon sprinted out from one of the buildings. Clearly he was not as adept at picking opportunities as she was. He didn't get far, as he looked behind himself to see if he was being pursued he ran into one of the creatures and fell to the ground as if he had just ran into a road sign.

The creature looked down at him with the same uncaring stare all of them always seemed to have. Though to the surprise of Salvatore (not to mention the Warrior) the beast did not simply shoot him as they had done previously, it picked him up by the arm and grabbed his head. Then the shrieks of terror stopped as the creature sent what appeared to be a red electrical pulse through the poor soul's head, rendering him unconscious. It then flung him over its shoulder, pressed a button on its wrist (the same one on which the exterminator weapon was) and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Confusing and terrifying as this sight was, Salvatore held on to her senses and grasped the opportunity presented by the absence of the creature. She ran to the building opposite her, hiding on the side of the door way, the creature inside was preoccupied, she just hoped it stayed that way.

She peered around the corner, to her relief, there were none of the creatures behind the gate. Just then she heard something behind her, the invader in the building was near the doorway.

She scrambled around the corner and stood with her back firmly to the wall. The creature must have been less than five feet from her, and she heard footsteps getting ever closer. She was sure to be found.

Thinking quickly, she took out her gun and silencer. She took aim at one of the few remaining windows. The gun made little sound and the window shattered loudly. The footsteps stopped for a second, then continued, but grew more distant.

She only just stopped herself breathing a sigh of relief, that noise alone may have gotten her killed. She looked past the building that she had her back to, she saw the remnants of the senior building. The once proud floating building had come crashing down and was now nothing more than a ruined heap of bricks and rubble. Only very small proportions of the once massive construct still actually resembled buildings.

It had lost its grandeur, yet provided some temporary cover while she would search for another of those gates that was less populated. She slid to the other side and peered around the corner. There was one of the creatures, hunting for stragglers in the wreckage. "Damn it" she thought, while that one was poking about in her target destination, there was no way she could go there, it seemed very meticulous in its aims.

She also couldn't stay where she was; that one she had distracted a second ago was likely now searching for whoever had broken that window. She was stuck.

It then hit her, she remembered one of Albion's silly little optimistic sayings; "When you've hit rock bottom, the only place left to go…" She looked to the rooftops "…is up."

She braced herself, then performed a back-flip that got her half-way up the building and kicked off from there to take her the rest of the way. She immediately crouched to avoid being seen, and crawled to the other side. She slowly stood up, at all times watching the nearest of the invaders, praying to God, whom up until that second she did not believe in, that it did not occur to it to look up.

Salvatore leapt to the next roof and immediately lay down when she reached it. She had not taken her eyes off that bastard for even a second. She did, however, have time to enjoy her brief flight. She, and Albion, always seemed to take more pleasure in things like that when in mortal danger. Then she almost gasped as three more came into view, in a robotic, routine fashion, they marched into the building she was laying on.

She absolutely despised stealth; the prospect of sneaking about, doing what her husband would refer to as "the subtle approach", was utterly mind numbing to her. Then again; death was not an attractive alternative.

The journey to the other side of the roof went very slowly; Salvatore became aware of every little sound she made. She was also aware of every sound that came from below her. Suddenly, she heard a loud crash and felt herself judder. It must have knocked her out for a split second; she opened her eyes to find herself lying on her back, a throbbing pain in her head. She saw only a blurry light above her. Before she had regained her bearings, her arms were clasped by what felt like knives. Salvatore hissed as the blades penetrated her skin.

The knife-like appendages forced the demon to her feet, everything was still a blur. She saw two fuzzed shapes in front of her, one of which drew closer. She shook her head violently; slowly her vision became clearer. Salvatore now saw the creatures clearly, their insane, unemotional stare, as well as the hand that was approaching her face.

Finally aware of the situation, Salvatore kicked out at the creature, hitting its torso. Salvatore cursed under her breath as the shock shot up her leg as if she had just kicked stone. The creature, however, did not react in the slightest.

She began to thrash in the monster's grasp, and with every movement the razor-sharp fingers dug in more. If she went on like this she may have severed her arms. However, her left hand found something; a plastic tube on the restraining creature's arm. Desperately hoping that it would do something, anything to make the creature loosen its grip.

It did that and more; the creature's hands sprang open and a deafening shriek filled the room. As much as Salvatore wanted to watch the bastard suffer, she was still on the brink of oblivion. She ducked down to avoid the hand and then darted around the creature.

She did not get far, as she ran past, the invader kneed her in the stomach. She had taken blows to the stomach before, though none were anything like as painful as this. She collapsed; a cough came out, and a short burst of blood sprayed from her mouth.

Her head was pounding; she was bleeding copiously from her torso and was unable to move. The monster rolled her onto her back with its foot, which was absolutely excruciating for her. It just stared at her; its eyes showing neither pity nor pleasure for her state. It legitimately did not care one way or the other. It was just doing what it had been doing for ages.

Salvatore wanted to issue one final order; for this... thing to put her out of her misery. She had not the strength to utter any sound other than unintelligible whimpers.

Her vision went totally blue, and the silence was replaced by horrific screaming and whirring machinery. Hundreds, no, thousands of voices, all screeching in agony and terror. The dimly lit room smelled of rotting flesh which forced a disgusting taste upon the half-dead demon.

The creature suddenly stood up, as if it were standing to attention. Another honed into view, but this one was different; it held itself in proud stature, unlike its robotic brethren. It stood in the only light, appearing to be a shadow that she looked up at.

Then a calm, almost gentle voice, that of a man, echoed in her aching head. "Alas, she is too injured my child, she would not survive the download for more than a second."

Salvatore became aware that she was about to die, it was hopeless. A bloody tear rolled down her cheek; the first, and last, time she had cried in front of anyone other than her beloved Albion. She then felt new pain; guilt. The last thing she had said to him was criticising his tardiness in getting to the scene of the crash. She would never see her beautiful Marina grow up. She didn't even have the comfort of knowing that she was about to see them again, away from this horror. She didn't know of their fate...

"My dear woman, they are dead." Salvatore's eyes widened; this bastard was reading her mind. "Let my disciple's weapon burn away your sins and imperfections, heathen."

Salvatore the magnificent, leader of the Diez, mighty warrior and forceful commander, solid in her belief that all others were her underlings and could be ordered about. This was her time.

_Hey, hey readers (assuming there stll ARE readers) this chapter is up and Salvatore has met her end. I apologise in advance, by the way; the main character death **doesn't** end here._

_Anyhoo, I have small favour to ask you guys. Like I said, i'm dwriting this thing for fun, but also because I want others to enjoy it. As such, assuming that anyone reads this, please review this story, tell me what you think, tell me how I can improve my story and OCs, and above all let me know that I still have an audience. __Critisism is welcome (so long as it is reasonable; no trolling please)_

_Getting away from the doom and gloom of the story for a sec, thanks to those of you who are reading this, and a special thank you to the four or more people who have faved this fic (four more than I was expecting :))_

_Merry Christmas everybody!_


	10. Chapter Nine: Reunion and Tragedy

Chapter Nine: Reunion and Tragedy

_Maritsu Netherworld, above Evil Academy ruin, Earth Royal Yacht, 2 hours after first attack_

Mao stepped on board the ship as the door closed, it was the epitome of luxury; the room looked more like it belonged in a mansion or palace than a ship. Still, he was unable to tear his eyes away from what he was seeing. Raspberyl was shocked too, for who had rescued them was dead. They had attended his funeral, this was impossibility, yet there he was.

More importantly, there **they** were. They had escaped from that creature, at least physically; the image of those mad eyes had been stamped on little Umeka's mind. The horror of it all had her bury her face in her Mother and clutch her tight, as if trying not to lose her. Nevertheless, she was now safe, for the time being at least.

Mao gazed at the one he called fake hero back in the day. He was also overflowing with joy to see his old and dear friend again, but his Honour Student profile and his pride (not to mention stubbornness) prevented him from showing it. Yet, he could not stop the happy tears dripping from his eyes. He was glad to see Almaz once more before…

"Mao?" Almaz said, noticing the tears

The overlord managed to shake it off. "Yeah? Nothings up, I was just sweating through my eyes." He retorted awkwardly.

Beryl rolled her eyes at her husband's unwillingness to show the emotion that he was obviously feeling. Almaz seemed confused at why Mao **was** so emotional; that wasn't like him at all.

Just then Umeka turned to look the man who had saved them with puzzlement. She looked at Cubelle, who seemed equally bewildered; their parents clearly knew this man, yet neither of them had seen him before.

"How?" Mao finally asked. "How can you be here, Almaz? We heard that you'd died."

"D, died?" Almaz responded in shock and confusion. "We were only gone four weeks"

"Stupid Fake Hero!" Mao exclaimed "It's been over 2,000 years you idiot!"

Beryl put her hand on her hip "Yeah, if it was only four weeks, then how come Mao and I look older then the last time you saw us?"

Almaz chuckled and scratched his head nervously. "Yeah, I guess I should have noticed that". He then noticed the young girl in Raspberyl's arms, who was eyeing him suspiciously. "So, Ms Beryl, if this is so far in the future... that kid you're holding..."

"Yup, she's my daughter, Umeka" Beryl replied. "Umeka, Cubelle, this is Almaz, he's a friend of ours"

Almaz smiled "Well, congrats" he said excitedly; "Hi there, little one!" The girl's suspicious eyes grew less so. After all, if her Mother trusted him, he couldn't be all bad. Though, admittedly, she still thought he was a dweeb.

"Yeah, yeah, very nice, but, in case anyone's forgotten, _I'm still in freaking pain here" _said Cubelle angrily, unable to stand due to her fractured ankle.

"Oh God, Cubelle!" Beryl exclaimed "I had no idea you'd hurt yourself _that_ badly!"

She turned to Mao; "Don't just stand there all dewy-eyed, nut brain, do something!"

Mao snapped out of his trance "Oh right, yeah, I'm coming" and he rushed over to treat Cubelle's injury.

Almaz looked down at the floor; "Wow; 2000 years on and I'm still an afterthought" he whined. "I guess some things never change"

Almaz then felt a little hand hold his, "don't worry, Mister…" chirped Umeka "I notice you, even if you are a wuss!"

"Thanks, I guess" whimpered the Human pathetically.

After Almaz had helped them get Cubelle's ankle bandaged up, Sapphire came rushing into the room. Mao and Beryl turned to her, seeing her again was equally pleasantly shocking as seeing Almaz. Like him, she looked no older than when they'd previously seen them, all those years ago.

Raspberyl was about to embrace her when she noticed that she, looked deadly serious, which worried them. From what they remembered, if something was serious enough to make _her _look that severe, it did not bode well with what was about to happen.

"Don't get chummy yet" she said intensely. "We have a big problem"

Almaz grew worried "What is it?"

Sapphire looked at each of them apologetically; "When we rescued you guys, that damn thing that was chasing you must have got a shot in on our engines." She said angrily. "They're only good for another few hours; after that, we'll either have to land, or fall out of the sky."

"But the monster will get us!" Umeka screamed fearfully.

"I had to ask..." Almaz whimpered.

...

_Gehenna Netherworld, Forest of the Damned_

Having cut herself free from the grip of the Treants, Etonne had been dominating her 'captors'. She quickly disposed of the treants by ramming her diamond sword into the ground, causing crystal spikes to come up from the ground, skewering the wooden freaks.

Jana jumped back in shock; she was not expecting the little princess to be this tough. She quickly regained her composure, however. "Well, I'll be a Zombies Mother-in-Law, ain't y'all the zesty one, sugar"

Etonne met her with an icy stare, "I have literally no idea what you just said, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm gonna kill you" she remarked in her bratty teen monotone "Looks like you won't be making out with cows, or whatever it is you rural trash do"

The pink haired redneck drew her knife, "Oh, you are going way down now, sugar!" Jana replied, her initial rage turning to a perverse look on her face "Now I _was_ gonna treat y'all like all nice. _Now_ I'm gonna hog-tie ya, take pictures of ya, and sell 'em to shady websites."

"Oh yeah" Xander drooled perversely.

Etonne looked up "You still here, Xander?"

Her ex became infuriated "How dare you look down on me, bitch!" he screamed "Well, once I overthrow your Dad, no one will look down on me." He then burst into maniacal laughter and jumped down to take Jana's side.

"Oh wow" Etonne said sarcastically "it's the redneck and the failure against a Krichevskoy, I wonder who will win."

Then, just as the teens were about to clash, a lightning bolt struck the ground between them, causing them all to retreat.

"What in the name of corn-fed chicken is goin on here?" Jana asked.

The air then rung with an unmistakable cackle "HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Oh great…" Etonne mumbled.

When the smoke cleared, there stood Overlord Laharl, in all his glory, flanked by his 'trusted' lieutenant Etna.

Laharl drew his sword from his scarf "Your attempt to intimidate me failed, now I shall show you no mercy"

Xander was sweating bullets; he remembered the beating he had gotten from Laharl earlier that evening. He could only imagine what he had in store for him now that he'd tried to kidnap his daughter.

He turned to run, but as he did, a massive wall of crystal rose from the ground in front of him. "Hey, Xandy…" he heard behind him in a familiar voice. He turned around fearfully.

"…Nobody makes a fool out the Princess of the Netherworld" Etonne continued. And like that, the wall toppled and fell right on top of the pathetic demon.

Meanwhile, Laharl had lunged at Jana with the definite intention of cutting her in two. She blocked with the knife, but she could feel the weight pushing down. For the first time that the Bounty Hunter could remember, she was terrified.

She then became aware of the Overlord's vassal poking a spear in her back. "Give it up, cowgirl" the voice came from behind her.

Almost instantly, Jana started begging for mercy. Laharl took his sword away and Etna disarmed her with a quick kick. Jana fell to her knees in crocodile tears "No fair, y'all, all I wanted was to get some money to go somewhere hot"

Etna leaned towards the sobbing demon and put on her most patronising voice "Aw, you poor thing." She straightened up and blew a whistle that she produced from inside her chest plate.

Within seconds, an uncountable number of Prinnies flooded in from out of nowhere. "Prinny Squad!" Etna yelled, "Take this pathetic little thing away"

"Where to Dood?" one of the Prinnies enquired.

Etna thought for a second "Well, she said she wanted to go somewhere hot, so take her to the slave mines at the lava sea of Gehenna"

In a second, the Prinnies were away, carrying the now genuinely crying Jana.

Etonne cupped her hands around her mouth for maximum volume "Enjoy your stay in your own personal living hell, you redneck bitch."

Her laughter only stopped when she turned to see her Father's angry glare.

She sighed "Here we go again"

The journey back to the castle was a turbulent one.

"How many times?" yelled Laharl "How many goddamn times have we had this discussion!"

Etonne just looked away and rolled her eyes. She was already stressed, what with the attempted kidnapping and everything. She was certainly not in the mood to have an argument with her Father.

Laharl was enraged yet further; "What the hell? I hike all the way out here to save your ass from these bastards and I get the cold shoulder? Some freaking gratitude!"

She felt a need to voice an opinion on that one "You didn't need to come out here, I'm more than capable of looking after myself" she retorted in a bratty anger "Besides, it's not as if it's surprising for me to be seeing boys in secret. Hell, Etna does it"

"Hey, don't use **me** as a meat shield here!" Etna snapped.

Laharl blatantly ignored the point; "You do realise that their only after one thing, right?"

"Well, yeah" Etonne retorted in a 'duh' kind of way, "how exactly are you surprised by that?"

The Overlord looked at his daughter, a true demon she was. The fact that he was, in actuality, referring to his throne as the 'one thing.' Nevertheless, he realised that she was, despite what the humans might think, a demon, which were very dissimilar to humans. Both she and Ryouta reminded him of his past self.

Words that had buzzed in his head for weeks now about these new 'expectations' for the 'human-and-angel-friendly' demons. They could not, and should not change a Demon's nature, or their heart.

A vile taste came into his mouth as he quoted Overlord Mao. Laharl held his fellow Overlord in high contempt, if not just for the fact that he was just such a freaking nerd, then for the belief that Laharl had that, whatever the white-haired freak was doing at that moment, Laharl was sure that Mao was having more fun than he was right now.

Etonne's mental ranting was then interrupted when she turned to see her Father on his knees, his hands clasped over his ears.

"You alright?" Etna asked him as she crouched next to him.

"The ringing…" he hissed "…ringing, louder than before… deafening"

Etonne couldn't care less about her father's predicament, not after all the crap a few minutes ago. "Whateves, if you guys need me I'll be in my room watching horror movies."

A true demon indeed.

However, she did not get far before that bad night turned into a full-blown nightmare.

Etna helped Laharl to his feet and, still in agony; he followed his daughter back to the castle.

The ringing grew louder with each step.

They eventually caught up with Etonne, who was just standing, staring at an orange glow, mesmerised.

"What are you looking at?" Etna asked her.

They soon found out. They too were speechless and terrified by the sight that the beheld.

There was the Overlord's castle, unrecognisable. Where once it stood in grandeur, it now stood in burning ruin.

…

_Veldime, Night Club district_

A crowd had gathered, half drunken demons chanting "Fight, Fight, Fight!" The twins' dispute over Sarah's inferior feeling had slowly but surely escalated to a common bar brawl.

Strangers cheered them on, friends struggled to get to them to pull them apart, Tink collected bets. In short, all hell broke loose.

After a few minutes of Shane ranting at Sarah about her belief that she was the inferior twin in their parents' eyes being "all in her head." Sarah finally snapped and punched Shane in the face.

Bleeding from the lip Shane returned the favour, only to be taken down into an arm-lock. "Let's see you beat those 'horrible beasts' with one arm, you asshole" he heard her growl.

Knowing that his arm may break at any second; he grabbed her hair.

Shane tugged back and pulled her off of him. He needed to get away from this fight, he didn't want to harm his Sister any more than what was necessary. He was all too aware that she couldn't help it, and it was him that had provoked her anyway.

Just as Sarah was standing up to come back on the attack, their cousin Shu, son of their Aunt Hanako, broke them up.

He was a little younger than they were; nevertheless he had the maturity of someone twice his age. "C'mon guys..." he said supportively "... if you maim each other tonight then that's your dreams of becoming famous fighters out the window."

"**His **dream!" Sarah yelled in anger.

Shu put his hands on her shoulders "Calm down, Sarah" he said softly. She turned away, shaking with rage, her eyes starting to water.

Shu sat her down with her friends and ordered her some water to help her chill. As Shane looked on at his Sister, he got the overwhelming urge to leave. He figured she needed some space.

As he started to walk back from the coliseum, he cursed himself for pressing her buttons so casually. He knew about her condition, yet he rarely made any attempt to account for it when he spoke.

He wondered whether Sarah would want him to. He remembered a time when they were kids when he had to comfort her when she was crying about people treating her differently. She could have been right, or it could have been one of her paranoid delusions, he was never entirely sure.

Meanwhile, Sarah sat at a table among friends, including Shu, and her boyfriend, Taka. They talked, the others desperately trying to dodge the subject of what had just happened or anything related to it.

Sarah realised this, she wondered if they were afraid of her, her own friends. Eventually, she managed to excuse herself by saying that she was tired.

Not five minutes after she left, attention was drawn from their conversation to a purple light that randomly appeared outside.

...

_Gehenna Netherworld, Ruins of Overlord's Castle_

Laharl looked down at his burning castle, his home, in flames and smashed beyond recognition.

As heart wrenching as this sight was, it paled in comparison to the fear and worry that he felt for his Wife and Son. It was so cruel, he had left them there so that they would not come to harm. The only place in the Netherworld, or anywhere, where he felt safe, where he felt his family was safe, was now a hellish inferno.

He immediately flew into the rubble, calling the names of his loved ones whose fate he knew not.

Etna was equally crushed. That castle represented happiness for her; from when Laharl's Father had taken her in from the ghetto when she was but a lonely child to the close bond she shared with the Overlord and his family. She shed a tear for the only home she had ever known, and for the friends who had been inside.

Princess Etonne was waiting to wake up. But this was no dream; it was a nightmare, though, sadly, only metaphorically. She tried to tell herself that this didn't matter, as she did with most things, but she simply didn't believe herself. For the first time for as long as she could remember, she felt. She hated it.

Meanwhile, her Father blasted rubble away in search for Flonne and Ryouta. He yelled their names again.

Then someone responded to his calling, rising out of the rubble was a reptilian looking creature, armour glowing in the orange light of the fire, eyes staring unemotionally in his direction.

The Overlord became enraged "Are you the one that did this?" he asked the unknown. It continued to stare at him, its eyes unchanged.

"ANSWER ME!" he roared.

Etna and Etonne were broken from their self pity by this yell; they were too far away to see what had warranted Laharl's anger. They then saw a group of orange spheres rise above the wreckage. This was unmistakably his Overlord's wrath spell.

Etonne suddenly reverted to her monotone, uninterested manner, though now it was merely an illusion. "If my Dad's fighting whatever did this…" she said "then I'd better get there before it's too late to exact my revenge."

"Right behind you" Etna growled, angrier and more focused than Etonne had ever seen her. They beat their wings and swiftly flew down to their former home.

Laharl brought the spell down on the creature with all of his might and hatred. The creature was obscured by the explosion and smoke. He turned to continue his search when he heard rustling debris behind him.

He turned to the sight of a shape walking out of the smoke; to his surprise and horror it was the creature, looking just as it had done when he first saw it. Overlord's Wrath had done nothing.

The creature walked slowly toward him, its fingers twitched and lips muttered. Laharl's rage was joined by a small amount of fear; he wondered if this thing was beatable.

Nevertheless, he flew, screaming in fury, directly at the beast. It suddenly became active, jumping forward to meet him. The next thing he knew he was lying, dazed on the ground.

He got to one knee; still groggy from what he could only assume was a hard blow the head from his opponent. He looked up to see its hand mere inches from his face.

Laharl kicked off from the ground, somersaulting back, out of the creature's reach. "Where the hell are Flonne and Ryouta? What have you done to them?" he barked at the invader, which cocked its head in response.

"Prince!" Etna yelled from above.

She and Etonne landed next to him, weapons drawn, ready to slaughter this…

"What is that thing?" Etonne asked

"No idea, all I know is it just shrugged off my Overlord's Wrath like it was rainwater"

"Great…"

The creature was making its way toward them, hands outstretched like some kind of Zombie.

Just then, what seemed like a random gust of wind blew up a cloud of ash. The image of the monster was enveloped in a black fog.

"Your highness!" a voice came from behind them. Behind them was a green mage's head poking out of what looked like some kind of trap door.

The trio didn't ask questions, they scrambled toward and into it. When they were all in, the mage shut the trap-door.

Laharl was still a little dizzy. Though he hid it well.

They were approached by one of the Krichevskoy family's longest standing servants; Dratti the Red Dragon. "King Laharl, it fills my heart with joy to see that you, Princess Etonne and the Lady Etna are safe."

"Hardly!" Etonne retorted obnoxiously, "That thing's probably right on top of us"

Dratti gazed at the demon girl "I don't think so" she started to explain "we are not really under the castle, that door is a dimensional gate. What's more, to make it an ideal hiding place, the door is not fixed; it changes position whenever it closes"

This information was currently irrelevant to Laharl, "Dratti, where are the Queen and Prince?"

The old dragon tilted her head down and closed her eyes "I'm afraid, they did not survive"

Laharl ceased to exist. The whole world ceased to exist as far as he was concerned. Nothing mattered.

Etna started sobbing loudly. Her best friends were gone, her home was gone. For the first time since her childhood, she wished she was dead.

Etonne just stood there. She literally felt nothing at all. She so wanted to feel something, she was desperate to feel something. She had forgotten what it was like to feel, since her experience as a child. She was disappointed that not even a tragedy of this magnitude could make her feel something.

The Overlord stood in his own personal void. He was awoken by someone kissing him. He opened his eyes; Flonne was there in front of him.

"Oh, Laharl, I'm so glad you're safe!" she wailed happily.

Laharl growled, "This isn't real, is it?"

He then felt a blunt pain in his shin. "Ow!" he hollered.

"Real enough for ya, Pops?" Ryouta asked loudly and annoyingly.

Dratti started laughing at the King who was now hopping around on one leg.

"Will someone explain to me what's going on here!" Laharl bellowed

Etna looked up through her tears to see the friends she thought she lost

Dratti was still laughing "The look on your faces! Priceless!"

"DAMN IT DRATTI! THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!"

…

_Veldime, Coliseum, Bar_

Adell's cell phone rung; he took it out of his pocket and looked at it, the call was from Shu, his nephew.

He sighed; he knew that Shu was with Shane and Sarah, which probably meant that this call was to involve the word drunk. He answered.

"Hey Shu, what's up"

"Un, Uncle Adell?" the terrified voice came from the other side.

Adell stood up, immediately concerned.

"Shu? What is it?"

Rozalin, Axel and Kat's attention was caught by the serious tone to Adell's voice. Rozalin was not only worried for her niece, but also all too aware that Shu was with her eldest children. Whatever danger he was in, they were also in.

Shu continued in a frightened whisper; "Uncle Adell, you have to get away from here, to another world, they're heading in your direction."

"Who is Shu?"

"I… I have no idea. They were killing us."

"Are Shane and Sarah okay?"

"They left before these things showed up… please leave this world, they're invi… oh God NO!"

"Shu? What is it? Where are they?"

"AH! ARGHHHHHHHHH!"

_Well, sir Shu didn't last long did he?_

_Wowzers, I actually uploaded two chapters within a month of each other, WHAT IS THIS?_

_When will the next chapter be uploaded? Hard to say, exams and work conspire against me, so it may take a while._

_Having said that, we're now getting into the part of the story I was looking forward to. That's right peeps, after two freaking years of introductory chapters, WE HAVE FOUND THE PLOT!"_

_Still, any advice and/or criticism is welcome, just be civil, okay?_

_Also, This is the longest chapter yet, d'ya think I should split it in two?_

_Hope you guys are enjoying this, if so, it only gets better from here in on (then again, I would think that, wouldn't I?)_

_Happy 2012, readers! Hope it's a good one._


	11. Chapter 10 Hell trying to get to Heaven

Chapter 10; Hell trying to get to Heaven

_Gehenna Netherworld, Former site of Overlord's Castle, Dimension Bunker _

The bunker was dark and cramped, it was essentially just a narrow cave, around 25 metres from end to end, with only torches on the walls for light, and they didn't do their job too well. There was a damp feel to it, as if it had been neglected for a long time, as a result, there was a hanging smell of rot.

After having endured about all she could from her Family's 'happy reunion' and the hugs and kisses that her Mother had been imposing upon her, Etonne decided it was about time that they got back to reality. "So, does anyone actually have any clue as to what that bug-eyed thing was?" she inquired in her signature monotone.

Dratti shook her head, "It just came through the door and started killing..." she replied coldly, "... and nothing could stop it."

"We threw everything we had at it, it didn't even flinch" a traumatised guard said from the darkness.

"It's an agent of God!" a scream erupted from a female healer "We're being punished!"

Great, Laharl thought, he had had some crappy days in his time but he never for a moment thought that the freaking Rapture would come out of nowhere and kick him in the shin.

"So, any hope of help from outside?" Etna asked

"Zommie's been trying to contact someone for a few hours now" Flonne replied.

"There's nothing, not anywhere." Zommie sighed, still staring at the radio, "I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only ones left"

Laharl contemplated the situation; there they were, in a dark pit, with a homicidal creature roaming around above them, with no help of rescue. The Overlord thought very hard, something his job did not require him to do very often. However, he was highly motivated this time; with the lives of his family on the line, he was prepared to do things that he would otherwise have avoided like the plague.

He then had a moment of understanding, and turned toward the door.

"Laharl, where are you going?" a worried voice asked from behind him.

He tried to ignore her, but he just couldn't, he couldn't just leave her without any word of what he was planning. "Look..." he said, trying his best to sound brave "If I can just lead that thing away, then there's a chance that you can..."

"You're going out there? Are you nuts?" Ryouta asked, sounding uncharacteristically concerned.

Doubt crept in to Laharl's mind, but he immediately dispelled it. Although he did now find it harder to justify what he wanted to do.

The long time loyal Krichevskoy servant Dratti stepped forward "Allow me to go, Sire."

Laharl raised his hand to stop her; he spoke as calmly as he could manage "It is an Overlord's duty to ensure the safety of his..."

"No!" Flonne exploded with an uncontrollable amount of emotion. She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were freezing to death, tears started to run from her pain stricken eyes and she was sobbing uncontrollably. "You can't..." she could hardly force the words out.

Etna put a comforting arm around her and shot Laharl an 'Are you satisfied?' kind of look.

Laharl had been hit harder in that moment than he had ever been. He looked down at Ryouta, hoping to get a little more understanding. But his gaze was met with a look of devastated shock "Come on, Dad..." the young boy whimpered, fighting back tears himself "... say you aren't really going to do it..."

"What's the big deal?" an uncaring monotone said from out of view, Etonne stepped forward. "If the mighty King wants to lead the 'Lord's Paladin' somewhere else so we can go about our business, why not let him?"

Ryouta looked right at the person who he only considered his Sister by blood technicality, "What the Hell..." he growled shakily "... is with you?"

The young demon's hands sparked with tiny lightning bolts. He had always hated his sister, but this time, he found himself genuinely wanting to kill her.

Laharl stood staring blankly at his children. Ryouta looked as though he was about to leap forward and strangle Etonne to death. But what about what Etonne had just said? Did she really hate him that much? Had _that_ incident from all those years ago made her that bitter?

That was when she was four years old, and Laharl finally realised that his Daughter had despised him ever since.

The bloodbath was averted by what could have been the voice of God. "Hello? Hello? Do you read me?"

Zommie suddenly became quite animated "Yes, yes, I copy, who is this?"

"This is King Almaz von Almantine Adamant-Rhodanite of Earth"

...

_Maritsu Netherworld, above Evil Academy ruin, Earth Royal Yacht_

On both sides, the survivors flocked around the Radio.

"Oh, tremendous..." the voice said sarcastically to whoever else was there "Well, I guess insane help is better than none"

Almaz was both insulted and confused. Then he remembered the whole 'dead for 2,000 years' thing and he had a new reason to be depressed.

"Look..." he sighed "I'll explain later." "More importantly, are those things in whatever world you're in?"

"I assume by that you mean the invincible, homicidal bug-lizard warrior that currently is searching for us?"

"Yeah... that fits the description pretty well."

"This is the Gehenna Netherworld, Where are you?"

Almaz heard Mao groan at the mention of Gehenna "We're on a ship... a spaceship in Maritsu" said the human, ignoring him.

...

Laharl was equally displeased by the mention of the other Netherworld. But both Overlords realised that this was a desperate situation and beggars couldn't be choosers.

"So..." Zommie started.

"So?" Almaz inquired.

The zombie grew annoyed "SO GET YOUR ASS INTO GEAR AND GET US OUT OF THIS!"

"Yeah... about that, we don't have a lot of fuel, and we only have enough for one dimension jump..."

Suddenly, Flonne strode over to the microphone "There's only one place that might be safe; Celestia"

"What makes you think Celestia would be safe?" Almaz asked.

"A few months ago, a human supremacy terrorist group threatened to bomb Celestia. The Seraph blocked all entry through Dimension Gates, but I can get us there by speaking a code at the Gate."

Laharl had heard something of this, and was unsurprised that Flonne had been trusted with this code. She was a high-ranking Archangel these days, and, from what he had been hearing, one of the few trustworthy ones left. As was the case in the Netherworlds, there were those in Celestia who disapproved of the new "universal peace" system.

He loved Flonne deeply but, frankly, he had had just about all he could take of her species. Despite the efforts of Mid-Boss and the late Seraph Lamington, most Angels still saw Demons as the epitome of evil. Some had even tried to assassinate Lamington's son, Simian, who shared his Father's ideals. Flonne had had her share of close calls in that regard, though of course, those who tried to hurt his wife had The Great Laharl to answer to, inter-dimensional relations be damned.

"What's the code?" Almaz asked.

"Just recite the Ten Commandments and the gate will open"

"Thanks"

"Alright..." Zommie said, "We'll rendezvous in Celestia and see if we can't think of something..."

It sounded like a good plan, yet those listening wondered what meeting up in Celestia might accomplish, assuming that they got there at all.

The radio cut off, and the bunker fell to silence. Zommie commanded the mage on the door to keep opening and closing the trap door, moving the dimensional bunker until they were as near as possible to the dimension gate in what was once the castle.

Laharl sat down against the wall, still set in his determination to make sure that his family and subjects survived at all costs. This was hardly something that Overlords would even consider; he tended to blame his unique decisions on his human blood. He remembered the sacrifice his mother made for him, and the sacrifice he had been prepared to make when he first met Flonne, when she was unduly punished. He was no stranger to sacrifice, and had always figured that the concept would play some part in his death.

"You're still thinking about sacrificing yourself aren't you?" Flonne snapped him out of his thought.

Laharl was about to come out with a straight yes, but he looked into her eyes to say it. Somehow the words failed to manifest themselves, her eyes were silently pleading, begging him not to do it. The Overlord thought back to a few short minutes ago, when the thought of Flonne's and Ryouta's death made him cease to exist.

"I know you're scared of what's going on..." Flonne said, trying to sound sympathetic.

"What are you saying?" Laharl asked.

"She wants to say that you're a freaking coward!" Etna interrupted in fury.

"What?"

"You think that you can make some kind of "Heroic Sacrifice" and we're all supposed to lie back and let you do it?"

"You ungrateful little wench, Etna! How dare you..."

"No! You damn well listen!" for the first time that either of them could remember, there were tears in the Demon lord's eyes "You'd rather run away from your subjects and quietly die than lead them when they need you most!"

Laharl was taken aback by this outburst, while Flonne had a shocked look on her face, which simultaneously possessed a hint of reluctant agreement.

The angel sat down next to him, "Laharl..." she started, uncharacteristically sternly "... You can't abandon us now; we need you"

Laharl sighed and started to open his mouth to respond. Flonne put her finger to his lips.

"No one else has to die today."

Suddenly, a shriek echoed from toward the door, and everybody looked in that direction in time to see a clawed hand drag the mage who was opening and closing the trap door through the door.

...

_Maritsu Netherworld, above Evil Academy ruin, Earth Royal Yacht_

"So, now what?" Asked Sapphire after the transmission ended.

Geoffrey laughed coldly "It's quite alright; I thought this might happen..." the words bringing back memories for the humans "... so I took the liberty of preparing an emergency gate leading directly to Celestia."

Cubelle eyed him suspiciously "and you knew to do this how?"

Beryl nodded in agreement "It wouldn't be the first time your 'efficiency' has led to us all almost getting killed..."

The butler rose an eyebrow "Lady Raspberyl, are you implying..."

"How do we know this isn't one of your master plans to change Mao to the dark side or something?"

"These accusations are completely unfounded, I assure you"

"Come to that, you're the one who handles Mao's food and drink..."

"I really think that..."

The small demon grabbed Geoffrey by the collars and pinned him against the wall "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HUSBAND?" A rage burned in her eyes that had never been seen before in her.

Umeka whimpered in fright and confusion. The adults were taken aback by the outburst.

Almaz tried to pull Beryl away from Geoffrey "Please Ms Beryl, calm down, we're all in the same boat here"

"Besides..." Mao said, surprisingly calm given the circumstances "... I make a point of making Geoffrey taste whatever food or drink he brings me."

She reluctantly let Geoffrey go and turned to Mao. "So, how _did _you get it then?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, honey."

"Did Geoffrey make you sick?" Umeka whimpered "is that why Mommy's mad at him?"

Mao smiled at her, "No, Umeka, he didn't.

Umeka could now take betrayal off of her list of sad things. For now at least.

"Daddy..."

"Yes"

"Are you going to die?"

She was tearing up. She couldn't remember a time when she cried so much.

At the same time, she felt anger boiling in her heart. As well as a quiet, scary voice telling her to let it out.

Mao responded with a reassuring "of course not" which seemed to have the desired effect. Although he, Beryl and Cubelle all knew that he was lying.

Almaz and Sapphire exchanged a glance, they both wanted to know what this was about, but knew that asking may make the situation with Umeka worse.

Geoffrey tapped his foot and cleared his throat. "Well if my masters will excuse me, I need to set the nav computer" he turned on his heel and strode into the cockpit.

A sinister grin formed on his lips; he had revised his master plan for this somewhat unexpected turn of events. If anything, the payoff was more satisfying, and the young mistress was developing faster than he had originally expected.

...

_Veldime, Coliseum bar_

The long, droning beep hung in Adell's ears. But it was the terrified scream that disturbed him the most. Shu was no coward, as a matter of fact, he had regularly stood up to bullies in his childhood; the son of the disgraced Demon Lord Hanako had endured much torment from his peers, but was never content to just take it.

Since when, Hanako had managed to recover from the incident that had bankrupted her power base and Shu had established himself as someone who would not be pushed around.

"What's the matter?" asked Rozalin with concern. "Are they alright?"

" I... I don't know" Adell replied.

"What is it?"

Adell quickly dialled Sarah's number. After the seemingly endless ringing, it went to answer phone.

After listening to his daughters voice tell him to leave a message, he did so. "Sarah, it's Dad, call me right away!"

"For God's sake! What the hell is going on?" Rozalin asked angrily.

"Are they dead?" asked Kat, perhaps more cheerful than was appropriate.

"I don't know, but they may be in danger!" Adell said in a focused, concerned rage as he dialled in Shane's number.

After two rings, he picked up "Yo" he said nonchalantly.

"Are you alright?" Adell asked frantically.

"...Sure..." came the nonchalant but confused response "what's going on?"

Adell decided not to sugar coat it "I think everyone at where you just were has been killed!"

"What? How?"

Everyone in Adell's company also reclined in shock.

"How do you know this?"

"Shu called me, he said they're invincible!"

"Oh crap! Sis!"

"Is she not with you?"

"No, she was at the club... Damn it!"

Adell was sweating bullets "Get back here, now!"

"But what about..."

"I don't want both of you in danger!"

"...Actually, I was going to ask about my hog"

"Damn it, Shane, Forget about your bike!"

Shane sighed "Fine, see ya"

He hung up, and Adell looked at the screen, praying for a missed call alert. Nothing.

Suddenly, a screaming man burst through the door. A second later, a terrible shriek rang out and he shattered in a blood-red light.

The bar erupted with screaming and cursing. Adell jumped between the door and his family, prepared for a fight. Rozalin, her face red with fear, heartbreak and anger, drew her gun and trained it on the door.

Axel, being himself, started to panic. Rozalin shot him a glare. "Well, don't just stand there like a halfwit, make yourself useful for once and get Katarina out of here"

"Awww, I never see no action" Kat whined, but she complied regardless.

Adell and Rozalin exchanged a gaze. "Adell, in case we don't make it..."

"We will, Roz, we always do."

The door burst off its hinges. The creature, cold and calculating, its eyes a mad frenzy, stood in the door, its arm raised.

...

_Maritsu Netherworld, above ruins of evil academy, Site of Celestian dimension gate_

The ship came to a halt above the coordinates that Geoffrey had put in. The ruins of the gymnasium; it seemed a logical place to put the gate, no one besides the gym teacher and the delinquents ever came here.

Delinquents were in greater number than ever prior to the invasion. Most blamed the fact that there was a delinquent Queen; Raspberyl was setting a bad example for the student body.

"So, where exactly is this thing?" asked the Delinquent.

"In the storage closet, maam" answered Geoffrey.

"This place is fairly remote, so hopefully those monsters won't think to look here." Almaz added.

Sapphire raised an eyebrow, "Mr Geoffrey, you are, as ever suspiciously efficient."

"We've been through this..." said the irritated butler.

"Before we start fighting..." Almaz interrupted "...Couldn't we focus on getting out of this alive first"

Cubelle perked up "Amen to that, let's get out before we all get slaughtered" she staggered forward on her crutch. This supported her due to her prior ankle injury.

Mao took a deep breath "Okay, the plan is simple, just run to the portal, roll off the Ten Commandments and freedom."

"Won't the monsters see us landing?" Umeka inquired.

"That's why the cloaking device will be engaged and..." Mao started

Cubelle interrupted him "Whoa... Great idea, except for two little things. We don't have a cloaking device and there is, in fact, no such thing as a cloaking device outside of sci-fi movies. Other than that... Foolproof"

Mao shrugged, "Meh, details..."

A half-baked plan based on Mao's random calculations and not much common sense. Almaz marvelled at just how little things had changed.

A few minutes of yelling at Mao later, the ship began its decent. There was little more than a slight rattling as the yacht descended for landing.

Then there was a jolt of violent rumbling. And then another.

"We've been seen!"

As the continued rumbling grew more violent, the ship began to tilt into a nose dive.

Screams ran out as they fell down their vessel and hit the wall at the back. Cubelle shrieked in agony as her ankle struck the wall. The ship itself continued to plummet.

...

Everyone and everything has its time, no one can escape their fate. Laharl, Adell, Mao, the greatest warriors in the multiverse; their time is up.

**A/N**

**Slightly revised chapter, I recently reread it and suddenly discovered the point in proof reading.**

**Chapter 11 should be up inside of a week, if it isn't already up when I replace this chapter.**

**Sorry about the long hiatus, I wanted to finish my exams before I started thinking about this again.**

**Again, please criticise me, any advice on making the writing better or my ocs more interesting or the real characters more in character, please say so, I want feedback, It's tasty.**

**Thanks for your continued support, have a good week, till next week!**


	12. Chapter 11 Relief and Tragedy

**Chapter Eleven; Relief and Tragedy**

_Maritsu Netherworld, above ruins of Evil Academy, above gymnasium_

The occupants of the Earth Royal (yacht) were pressed firmly against the back wall as the ship fell, hurtling towards the ground, no chance of survival upon impact.

"Vasa Aergun!" Mao shouted. All went dark and Mao transformed into a massive black winged beast.

He pushed away the bulkheads and the shards of the ship exploded outwards. The remaining people were in Mao's hands as his wings acted as a parachute.

The danger over, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Umeka stared up at her Father, marvelling at this unfamiliar power "Oh, wow! That's so cool!" she chirped happily.

Almaz meanwhile was swaying. "Oh god, I don't feel so good"

"Fake Hero, if you hurl in my hand, I swear I will drop you..."

Meanwhile the diminutive delinquent stood up. "You couldn't have done that sooner?" Beryl yelled at him. "My blood pressure must be through the roof, ya' dumbass!"

Mao narrowed his eyes "Yes, whatever you say, oh wind beneath my wings" he said sarcastically.

"Don't you get snippy with me, mister!" his wife yelled back. Mao rolled his eyes.

The argument was promptly interrupted.

...

_Gehenna Netherworld, Royal bunker_

A lightly glowing clawed foot came into view. The monster made its way slowly down the stairs; and all inside the bunker were trapped and helpless.

The room fell silent and despair sank in on everyone. Even the usually emotionless Etonne felt fear's burn.

Laharl rushed to the entrance to the bunker and leapt up. He managed to hold himself between the walls, his back pressed to the ceiling.

The mad eyes of the creature honed into view, it outstretched its hands, red sparks dancing on its knife-like fingers. The breath of the cornered prey grew audibly quicker as most prepared to fight to the death.

Laharl yelled in pent up anger and enveloped the thing in his scarf. "Run!" he shouted.

He needed not tell them twice, the whole room started running out the door. Flonne stopped and looked up after seeing her children escape. She gazed at Laharl hopelessly.

He smiled at her "Don't worry, I promise you I won't take the coward's way out."

Upon seeing the increasingly violent thrashing inside the scarf, she nodded and decided to believe him.

"I love you, Laharl" she said softly before running after everyone else.

Laharl only hoped he could keep this thing under wraps long enough.

...

_Veldime, Coliseum, Bar_

Rozalin opened fire as soon as the creature was in sight. The bullets fizzed away upon contact with the monster.

It turned its attention to her and pointed its arm in her direction.

Quickly, Adell grabbed her and jumped behind the bar with her. They crouched just in time to see the bolts of crimson zoom above their heads and scorch the wall.

"Well, looks like bullets aren't going to work" Adell said, with a little excitement.

"Well obviously!" Rozalin retorted in anger. "Now stop gloating and do what you want"

She knew that he wanted to fight that thing, and although she didn't want him to, she had given up trying to talk him out of fights long ago. He was a battle maniac, that's why she loved him, and why she hated him.

They took each others hand. "Good luck, my battle maniac" Rozalin whispered.

He nodded and kissed her hand before throwing himself over the bar at the creature.

It caught him in mid air, slamming his solar plexis in the process. Suprised and winded, Adell launched several punches at its jaw, none of which got any kind of reaction.

It turned on its heels and threw him to the ground with bone shattering force. A loud smash erupted which made Rozalin shiver. With more than a wounded ego, Adell sprang back up to attack again only to be smacked back down.

Adell lay on the floor, his body aching, his head pounding, his vision blurred. The creature raised its arm to finish the job.

At the last second, Rozalin leapt on its back and attempted to choke it. The monster responded by nonchalantly elbowing her in the ribs, which caused a deafening crack and dispeled her onto the floor, groaning and clutching her chest.

The thing trained its weapon back on Adell, only to discover that he wasn't where it had left him a few seconds ago.

Just then, Adell's fire soaked fists rained down on it, accompanied by an almost tribal scream. Adell then sought to complete Vulcan Blaze with the uppercut. He swung his fist upwards as hard as he could, only for this too to be shrugged off, though he had broken his own knuckles and wrist. Adell swore and threw the other fist in blind desperation.

Before he could land it, however, the creatures own fist caught him right on the jaw, and the greatest fighter in all the multiverse fell unconscious.

"Adell!" Rozalin screamed as it turned back to her, its hand alight with red sparks.

Rozalin looked up at the approaching monster in terror, fully aware that the end was nigh.

The sharp fingers grabbed her head, and she screamed in agony as the red sparks shot through her skull. Then everything went black.

...

_Maritsu Netherworld_

The hearty arguement was cut short. Many of the blood red bolts of the creature's weapons ripped through Mao's wings. The decent grew faster.

Mercifully, they didn't fall too far and only got a comparatively light landing.

Cubelle once again smacked her injured ankle, "Argh! C'mon this is getting ridiculous!"

The others picked themselves up "Is everyone alright?" asked Almaz.

"Definetly not!" Sapphire shouted "We have company!" she pointed to more than a dozen glowing shapes coming from the distance.

Mao picked up Cubelle in the bridal fashion (which she was about to complain was degrading, but decided it not the time).

Raspberyl grabbed Umeka and the party started running toward the gym.

Almaz sprinted as fast as he could, he gazed at Sapphire running beside him, he thought about how this would be a great final image.

Sapphire glanced behind them and her eyes widened, she grabbed Almaz's hand and yanked him sideways. Almaz almost fell, but he saw a bright red bolt zip past his head.

They ran into the gym and Mao put Cubelle on a bench and braced himself against the door in an attempt to keep the creatures out.

"The gate is hidden in the storage closet" Geoffrey said impossibly calmly.

It was locked, a lock strong enough to keep demons out. "Almaz cut it open" Beryl said desparetly, putting Umeka down, "Sapphire and I will help Mao"

No sooner did the two women brace themselves did the banging start as the creatures tried to force their way in.

Umeka started screaming and threw her arms around Cubelle. "It's gonna be okay, little Sis." Cubelle tried to reassure her.

Almaz hacked away at the door with his sword, the blows did minimal damage "C'mon, c'mon!" he wheezed in despair.

"Hurry up, fake hero" Mao yelled as the banging on the door grew more intense.

On both sides of the room, the banging continued.

"Get a freaking move on, Almaz!" Beryl screamed in terror and frustration.

Almaz took a mighty swing at the door and the hole was now large enough to walk through. "I've done it!" he cried out triumphantly.

The three on the door broke away and the door immeadiatly burst off its hinges and the first creature came silently through.

Something dawned on Mao, he was on deaths door already. Whether by disease or these creatures, he was going to die. He figured that he may as well pay back the people who he cared about, even when he claimed to care for noone. He turned to face them, as Raspberyl and Sapphire continued on ahead of him.

They ran to the closet, grabbing Cubelle and Umeka as they went. Beryl turned to see Mao facing the creatures. "MAO NO!" she screeched with more emotion than she thought possible.

"Daddy!" Umeka cried.

"Just go! Now!"

Beryl felt Sapphire grab her, as Geoffory recited the password. She saw her husband disappear as she semi-concously ran through the gate and into Celestia.

...

_Gehenna Netherworld_

The thrashing in the scarf continued untill the bladed fingers ripped through it. Laharl winced as the claws tore through the fabric and the thing forced itself free.

The Overlord let go and dropped to the floor, turning to escape. At the top of the stairs he leapt up to take flight, but the damage to the scarf was too great. The magic was gone and the scarf was nothing more than a useless red cloth.

He picked himself up and spun around to see the creature coming back up the stairs toward him. This was it, he thought, the end.

He had but one chance; he gathered a ball of dark energy and hurled it at the rubble of the castle. With a rumble, the rocks and debris which had once been the castle walls tumbled, right onto the trap door, sealing the creature inside.

Laharl turned and ran toward the gate, and quickened the pace when he heard crashing behind him.

...

_Veldime_

"Rozy!"

Rozalin gradually awoke to see the demon lord Hanako over her.

"Alright, you're awake!" Hanako said gleefully.

The former Princess still felt dizzy. "...Adell..."

"He took a big whack but he'll live"

"Hanako... how did you..."

"Lucky for you I had a dimension gate handy" Hanako answered "... And that I know that these weird things don't like it when you pull their black tubes."

"You killed it?"

"No, I just broke the tube. Oh, the noise was something to behold, alright" she said with more than a slight tone of relish.

She helped Rozalin up and sat on a table. "So, where's Shu?"

Terror gripped Rozalin again as she realised she had no choice but to tell her Shu's fate.

A very difficult conversation followed. At first Hanako was dismissive, denying the possibility outright. But, after a while it began to sink in. Finally, Hanako erupted in a massive scream of emotion and threw her arms around Rozalin, who hugged her back.

"Hanako, I'm so sorry... I don't know what..."

"He was all I had left, after the money dried up and his Father left me... Oh God"

A few hours later.

By this time, Adell had come round and was doing his best to comfort his Sister. The cowering Axel had been dragged out of hiding along with Katarina, who, untill she saw her crying Aunt, was complaining about how she 'never saw no action'.

After a while, Hanako looked up, that was when she saw Rozalin's gun laying there on the floor.

She said she needed to go to the bathroom, she surprised everyone when suddenly broke into a run.

Hanako scooped up the gun and continued running. Before anyone could stop her, she put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

_**Hi guys, as I explained in the reuploaded Chapter 10, exams caused the hiatus, they're important, you know?**_

_**I plan to work my sweet behind off to get this finished by January, I'm sorry it took so long, and I thank you for being so patient with me. Thanks Y'all.**_

_**One other thing, I have some 'future' projects, they are pretty vague, but there IS one that fans of Doctor Who might be interested in. If you happen to be a whovian as well as a Disgaea fan, check out the crossover section, because, put simply, you can help yourself to what's there. I don't want it anymore. PM me if you're interested**_

_**TTFN!**_


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12; The Cult of the Pand

_Maritsu Netherworld, Evil Academy, Gymnasium_

Mao stared at the creatures approaching him. He knew that this was his time. He could accept that, hell, he was on death's door anyway and as painful as being disintegrated looked, it seemed a more dignified way to go than the heart disease offered. He just wished that they'd get on with it. It was true what they said; the worst part was waiting, the longer they took the more the fear built in him. They lowered their weapons and instead extended their arms zombie-like, with odd crimson sparks on their hands. For a second, Mao wondered what the hell was going on, but then realised that he didn't care; this gave him a chance, a gleam of hope that he may see Beryl and the girls again and make damn sure that they all lived. With that, his vast tactical mind told him to run like hell, and he always listened to his mind.

So he bolted into the storage closet to go through the Dimension Gate, freedom only a step away, for the first time that day, for the first time in months, he actually felt a rush, the thrill of being in danger, and the ecstasy that it was all going to turn out just fine.

But, still, he was hardly safe yet, "Where the hell is it!?" he gasped in frustration. He spotted the control console next to a pile of basketballs, some of which were not so subtly booby-trapped, one being literally covered in joy buzzers. He reverted to his old self for a second, "How low have these honour students sunk?" he thought, making himself feel like an old man, thinking about 'his day' and how these youngsters barely knew what it was like to be an honour student. Then a banging on the closet door reminded him that this was hardly the time for a mid-life crisis. He urgently hit some buttons and was met with the horror "**Location reset, enter code"**

"Oh, You have got to be #%&ing kidding me!"

...

_Celestia, Celestian Wasteland_

Beryl knelt weeping hysterically in front of the closed dimension gate, Almaz felt sorry for her; Mao was not only her husband, but the only constant in her life, a childhood friend. Mao was a friend to Almaz, and he was devastated to have lost him, but for Raspberyl, it must have been nigh traumatising.

Cubelle sat in silent rage, fighting back tears. She looked ready to smash something. Though it was not this that made Almaz think best to leave her alone; her eyes burned with orange fury, not green as they had been, and had slits for pupils, almost animal like. To be honest, she looked scary. Still, it was to be expected; Almaz remembered when his Father died all those years ago, he knew the pain she must have been feeling.

He said nothing to either of them, what was there to say?

"Are you okay?" Sapphire asked him with concern, holding his arm tenderly as he took comfort in her presence. He realised only now, with a new widow crying in front of him, just how deeply he loved her, and just how unbearable her loss would be.

"I guess..." he responded weakly, looking into her deep, sad eyes, "...just can't believe he's gone, you know"

"My Daddy's not gone..." Umeka said, a level of determination in her little voice and on her cute little face uncharacteristic of her age, "he'll win, he always wins".

Almaz then found himself in a horrible position; did he tell Umeka that her Dad was gone, or did he let her keep her heroic delusions? She was still in denial, and again Almaz thought of his own Father, and how his initial denial of his death had delayed the worst of the pain, and he felt that Umeka should be allowed to believe what she wants.

Then a surprise; Raspberyl's cell phone rang. A happy sounding song which Almaz didn't recognise sounded as the tearful demon took it from her pocket. Who could it possibly have been? She didn't seem to care.

"Leave me alo..." She stopped and gasped before quickly answering. "Mao?"

"OPENTHEGATEOPENTHEGATE!" came the panicked voice from the other side, so loud that it was like he was actually there rather than on the phone.

"Mao! You're alive!" Beryl exclaimed happily, and Almaz felt great relief as Sapphire gasped in happy surprise. About a second passed, "Oh, oh, right, the gate" Beryl said as she was yanked back to reality. She hurried over to the control console and opened the gate. Mao leapt through before it was even fully open and Beryl quickly reclosed the gate as the door to the closet was smashed in.

Mao knelt panting heavily for a second, then took a deep breath. "Piece of cake" he said in his familiar overconfidence. He was then hugged tightly by a tearful Raspberyl. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her lips. Almaz barely had a moment to register the happiness he felt for them and their daughters before Beryl pulled away and slapped Mao angrily across the face.

"What the hell was that for?!" Mao shouted angrily as he reeled from the sudden shock, clearly as surprised as everyone else was.

"Don't you dare ever play hero like that again! You worried me sick, not to mention the fact that you're supposed to be the greatest honour student who ever lived. What kind of honour student selflessly sacrifices himself?"

Mao stood up, "Well, I apologise for saving your lives" he retorted sarcastically.

"Anyway!" Sapphire interjected, and Almaz despaired that maybe he and her would be bickering like that in the years to come. "Maybe we should find our way to civilisation, what with you know; food, water, Cubelle's ankle and of course, I'm guessing all this wasn't good for 'you know who'"

"Who..." started Beryl.

He had almost forgotten, which was strange considering this was his child, but what with the aliens and almost getting killed, the current situation had seemed more urgent. "Oh, we didn't tell you, Sapphire's..." Almaz began to say before Sapphire interrupted.

"I have a little cutesy thingy of my own in the making" she said proudly.

Almaz expected congratulations, but... "Oh yeah, we figured..." Mao said flatly.

"Huh?" Almaz exclaimed.

"Yeah, they say you could be heard three floors down." Beryl added, giggling slightly.

The human couple went beet red "Yes well..." Almaz wheezed hurriedly, "Let's go... Civilisation and all that."

Umeka was confused, "Heard what? What are they talking about, Cubby?"

"Never mind..." came the embarrassed reply.

Almaz was now suitably humiliated; that ultimate act of love between him and Sapphire, the conception of their child, had been heard, and used as gossip, and to top it all off, it was the last thing that people knew that they did before their 'deaths'. Somehow, the alien invasion seemed a welcome relief.

He noticed that Mao was grimacing, perhaps embarrassed for them?

"If Sapphire is defiantly pregnant, then we need to find medical help, fast… great…" the demon said, seeming despondent.

Almaz thought himself foolish for thinking that Mao would share in his embarrassment.

Then he got scared "Really? Do you think there's something wrong?"

Sapphire ran to Mao, getting right in his face, "You think that my baby's hurt?!" she said hysterically.

Mao backed away, trying to get some breathing room. "It's possible, I mean, you've been through hell both physically and mentally and…"

"What?!" Almaz exclaimed, now terrified for his child's safety.

"I'll go to the city, make sure that this isn't some elaborate trap by the aliens… and find medical help for you." Mao then looked at Cubelle, "Okay, let take a look at that ankle…" he started drooling, a callback to when Almaz first met him "…what improvements can I make? Huff!"

Cubelle looked back with bemused eyes, "No way! Go get a Doctor!"

Mao looked offended, "What the hell does a doctor have that I don't?!"

"A medical degree, sanity, among other things…"

…

_Celestia, Nirvana City Streets_

Mao walked through the tent filled slums, unsure of where to find any help. Still, he was an honour student and a man, and thus would have rather died than ask for directions. He was even slow to accept any help that might be offered and felt inclined to fix up Cubelle's ankle himself, but if his experimentation days taught him anything, it was that he was more adept at mutilating limbs than repairing them. That was likely the reason Cubelle wouldn't let him near her.

He found himself glad he had come alone; these slums were hardly the place for a pregnant woman and a small child. He realised how much being a parent changed him, he forced himself to change when Beryl first adopted Cubelle, but as he grew closer to her he found himself changing automatically; by the time Umeka was born, he was what his old self would have called a softie, or even a delinquent. Mao shuddered at the thought.

Though Mao found his old honour student ways returning as he looked over the squalor of what the once proud angel city had become. He let out a short laugh, "How the mighty have fallen…" he thought with more than a little relish. He felt little sympathy for the demons and humans who buzzed around the streets, mainly because they weren't Beryl or Cubelle or Umeka or anyone else he cared about.

"Hey man, can you spare some money?" asked a particularly bold demon man in rusty chainmail and grubby silk pants. Mao looked at the Netherworld insignia on the man's chest, it wasn't Maritsu, he walked on; he still had his demon pride, his family hadn't turned him into a delinquent yet. Besides, he could hardly spare charity for everyone around here; it had occurred to him that he was actually not so far from being as desperate as they were.

"C'mon man, I'm starving." Added the man, Mao didn't turn around, but braced himself as beggars, especially demons, didn't tend to take 'no' for an answer. "Don't you damn well ignore me!" A second later the beggar lunged at him with a scream of anger and desperation, Mao turned and stopped him by holding him back with a single hand in the man's face. He saw that he was holding a dagger, and Mao suddenly realised that he couldn't afford to mess around; for even the most powerful demon could be stabbed. The Overlord threw his attacker across the street, sending him flying and crashing down on the marble with a loud scream.

The spectators growled and all started to approach Mao. "You're gonna die here" he heard one of them yell. Mao suddenly felt boxed in, he cursed and drew his sword, thinking it may deter them but, to his annoyance, they kept coming. He felt his heart rate go up with the adrenaline, and Mao clutched his chest as his diseased heart felt as though it was being ripped out of him. They were no longer annoyances; now they were a threat. As the stabbing pain grew worse, Mao was scared, and sure he was about to die.

Just then another crowd of people got between him and the mob, all wearing clean clothes and looking significantly better fed. They also carried a badge with a symbol Mao couldn't make out. A bearded angel man dressed in pure white robes came to the front "My friends! Cast off the shackles of anger and join the Pand. Join the great Pand and you shall starve no more!" It was the second part that had the desired effect. "Come with me to my sanctuary and never go hungry again." This guy seemed a little too good to be true to Mao, but the starving masses begged to differ. They cheered and went with the angel's group. The bearded angel turned to face him "Are you in need, my friend?"

Mao tried to tell him to go jump in a river, as any good demon should, but the pain made it so he couldn't talk. Embarrassment was added to the fear as Mao thought of how pathetic he must have looked.

The stranger grinned widely, took out a syringe, and injected Mao's neck. To his astonishment, the pain faded away. Mao gasped a welcome breath, "You… helped me."

"But of course, I am a doctor, it is what I do" he replied, a little too happily for Mao's taste, yet this sentence was exactly what he needed to hear. Sickening bubbliness that he would only let Beryl and his daughters get away with aside, this guy was his last hope.

"Maybe you could apply that eagerness to helping my companions?" Mao said, really hoping that he was giving off the nonchalant demeanour that he really didn't feel.

The angel stood up, looking Mao right in the eye, as if he had nothing at all to fear from the Overlord. The smile grew larger, looking quite insincere; a trait of many doctors Mao had met. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"I've got a daughter with a busted ankle and a pregnant woman, think you can handle that?"

The angel clapped his hands together, "I think I can handle that, yes." He then extended one of his hands to Mao, "Dorn, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mao!" Mao impatiently gestured behind himself. "Oh, of course..." Dorn yelled annoyingly, his jolly mood seemingly unaffected by Mao's irritation, which he intentionally made obvious "...lead the way!"

Dorn told two of his followers to come with a stretcher, and they started back toward the wasteland.

The Overlord paused, and then walked back to the wastelands. Something was wrong with this guy; Mao did not trust him. He ruled over Demons, he knew when someone was lying to gain something, and this 'Dorn' character was particularly bad at hiding it. Still, he had no choice, he had a daughter with a dangerous and painful injury and a pregnant woman who had been stressed beyond belief, and he was a doctor; just the person he'd come to find. Yet he just couldn't shake the feeling that he was walking into a trap. Maybe he was just paranoid after all that had happened that day.

He then realised something, Dorn had called him 'Mao'; he didn't remember telling him his name and most individual Overlords weren't that well known in Celestia. Mao decided that he would definitely keep an eye on him.

_..._

_Celestia, Outskirts of Nirvana City, 'Pand' Complex, 2 hours later_

The complex, on the outside, reminded Mao of a human military base, it had that same unpainted, harsh feeling about it. It certainly didn't make Dorn any more trustworthy in his eyes, but it had become increasingly obvious that this was their only choice. All the angel doctors had turned them away and any attempt at coercion was met with threatening growls from both the guards and, surprisingly, the masses of demons and humans on the street. Coming to this so called sanctuary seemed the only way to avoid causing a scene, and to keep everyone safe. These were demons after all, and desperate ones at that; they would see a young child and an injured girl as a means of getting an advantage over him, and Mao could not risk that happening.

"Are you sure this guy was all good?" asked Cubelle who was being helped to walk on her one leg by Almaz, having refused to allow herself to be carried bridal style any more. She said it was demeaning, some gratitude.

"To be honest, no… but then we don't exactly have a choice, do we?" Mao replied. He caught Beryl out of the corner of his eye giving him a look, "I still don't like it" he said to her.

"You're paranoid, besides, as you said, there's no other choice, and anyway it's not as if we can't handle some angel" she said, perhaps trying to sound reassuring, but she was clearly irritated by him, he thought he heard her mutter 'honour student'.

Mao knocked on the door, a few seconds later a slider on the door opened to reveal a pair of eyes, "Can I help you?" came the far-too-cheery voice from within.

"I'm Overlord Mao, here with my companions, Dorn's expecting me."

The eyes widened excitedly when he spoke his name, which Mao was sure wasn't a good sign. The slider closed and, after several bolts and locks were removed, the door opened. The man (which was a surprise to Mao given by how feminine the voice sounded) welcomed them and waved them in. "Dorn will be with you soo…"

"Actually, we're only here because my friend and my daughter need medical treatment, after that we're leaving" Mao said sternly.

The man's face grew worried "But you can't…"

"Well we are."

"But…"

It was at that point Mao decided that he had had enough; he didn't trust this place and this guy's keenness for them not to leave sealed it. "Screw this, Cubelle, I'll fix your ankle myself."

Cubelle looked less than excited by this notion, "Hey, don't I get a say in this?"

Beryl looked strictly at Mao, "You listen to me, Mao, we need this place, if Cubelle's ankle doesn't get fixed soon she could be disfigured, and Sapphire could lose her baby!"

"But Mommy…" said a confused and frightened Umeka "… this guy scares me, he seems happy, not good happy; scary happy, like clowns…"

Even as Mao and company walked away, Almaz stood his ground "No way are we leaving…" he said determinedly "… Mao, you go if you want to leave, be my guest, but I want to make sure my Wife and my Son are okay."

"Besides…" Sapphire said gleefully, "if they try anything, I'll cut 'em down to size with my chainsaw."

Mao looked around shocked at his companions, how could they not see that this was a trap? How could they be so blind? "Well, I'm going." But, Mao was now questioning whether he was, indeed, just being paranoid.

Almaz was about to come back with a response when the man suddenly exploded forward, surprising everyone. He grabbed Mao's arm and sank to his knees, "Please…" he whimpered, "…don't go, we need you."

Everyone jumped at this, and Beryl gazed at Mao, and he returned it with an 'I told you so' expression. He then looked back at the maniac who had just grabbed his arm, resisting the urge to blast him. "What the hell fo…" It was at that moment Mao felt a ripping pain in his chest again. He knew he was having another attack, a major one, like the one back home. He might not be so lucky this time. He tried to scream for the pain but the strain took the sound away.

"Mao? Are you okay?"

Mao couldn't focus on who was talking, his world had gone into slow motion, and he felt as if a knife was being slowly sunk and twisted into his chest. There was noise all around him, but then it was all shattered by that god awful laugh again. Then the booming voice said something.

"We need you, my child, and you need us."

And then he lost consciousness.

…

Mao slowly awoke from his coma, staring up at a light, quite sure he was in the afterlife and thinking how stupidly generic staring up to a white light was when dying. As the grogginess faded reality set in and Mao realised that he was very much alive, that is, he hadn't gone yet. He felt someone holding his hand tightly, he picked his head up to see Beryl's sad face, and he felt like he could be happy again, for now.

"Oh thank God…" she sighed.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Inside this Dorn guy's compound, I'm sorry but… they said they could help you and…" he put his hand up to silence her and smiled at her.

"It's okay, babe, now let's get out of here…"

Then an unwelcome voice boomed from the door "Oh, I don't think so." Dorn strode into view, but he was different now, all attempts at trying to sound trustworthy were at an end, he sounded mocking, and in no doubt as to who was in control. An evil grin had formed on his face, the kind a sadistic small boy might have when pulling the legs off a frog. "You think after all the trouble I went to, I'm just going to let you go?"

"Dorn! Where the hell are my children, and my friends?"

"It's okay…" Raspberyl said, not taking her eyes off of Dorn, striking a defensive stance between him and her husband "I told them to go back to the city, they're safe."

Dorn smirked, "Hm, and you think I'd just let them walk out of here?"

Mao grimaced, "No…" he said, cursing his stupidity "Damn it, I thought he was just some thug, but no, he's one of them…"

Raspberyl looked back at him "What do you…"

"I heard the voice again, he's…"

Dorn's voice rang out again "Ha, I thought that you, with your mighty EQ that we need you for, would have worked it out sooner, heathen."

Her eyes widened, starting to shake "Oh, damnit, no!"

"You demons and the angels, you're so easy to predict, to manipulate. You run to Celestia, where it would seem to be safe, you're rejected by those thick-as-shit angels and needed me and my followers for your medical treatment. I knew you didn't buy my 'nice' act, but I've had you backed into a corner since you got to Celestia" His grin grew unnaturally large "You are a pitiful foe, and, oh, how I've loved dominating you intellectually, the so called 'evil genius'. Now it's time for me to be rid of this ridiculous disguise."

Beryl launched an Omega Fire spell into the angel, Mao could feel the heat from his bed, but, as the smoke cleared, Dorn stood, unharmed. It was then that he started to laugh, a frightening laugh, a savage laugh, as though their squirming gave him some kind of sick pleasure.

Mao, having just accepted that he was alive, now recognised that he was about to die, along with Beryl. He stood out of the bed frantically searching for a way out, but none stood out, he doubted Dorn would have let them get far any way. He tried to assume his Vasa Aergun form again, but the very attempt made his heart feel like he was going to have another attack. He just couldn't muster the power. He reached for his sword which the cunning bastard had taken away.

Dorn spread his arms "Now see my true self, and accept the great Kevok's will, and your untimely and tragic fate." His laughing became even more hysterical. He glowed a dull but reflective grey as his form changed, from despicable angel into another of those horrible things they had come here to escape.

Beryl screamed in instinctive anger, launching spell after spell, elementals to her D-Rule skills, in a desperate attempt to kill it, all to no avail. She prepared to launch herself at it when the barrel of its arm mounted weapon was pointed at her; she froze, expecting death.

"Stay exactly where you are, you pretty little whore" Dorn said with perverse and evil pleasure.

" No! Damn it, you've made it clear I'm the one you want, leave her alone."Mao yelled desperately.

Dorn looked up at him, his eyes different from the others, retaining personality, sanity. The lipless mouth curved into a grin once again. "Indeed." He pressed a button on his wrist, barely a moment later, an ear splitting hissing rang out and three more creatures appeared behind him, a fourth on the other side of Mao's bed. "Now Mao, as human law enforcers would say, are we doing this the easy way, or the hard way." He seemed to relish the idea of the 'hard way'.

Beryl stepped back, holding Mao's hands, still facing Dorn "You're not taking him anywhere, you bastard" she growled, summoning all the courage she had. Mao felt his stomach knot as he realised that she would not let up, and they would have to kill her to get to him. He found himself loving and cursing her.

Dorn gestured to one of the others, who complacent as always, marched over to Beryl, grabbed her arm and pulled her away from him. Mao lashed out at him but it nonchalantly smashed him away, sending him tumbling over to the other side of the bed, a dull pain humming in his head, where the creature there silently put its knee into the small of his back, pinning him painfully to the cold hard floor. Meanwhile, two of the others held Beryl and forced her to her knees while still clasping her arms. Mao painfully watched his childhood friend and sweetheart wince as blood dripped from where the creature's sharp fingers sliced in.

She looked at him, tears running down her face, still struggling, for the first time Mao could remember, she looked terrified. He looked back at her apologetically, the thought that it was him who had led her here burning in his mind like a torturing fire.

Dorn stepped over to him, clearly satisfied with his work, still grinning. "Let Beryl go, please…" Mao whispered desperately. Dorn let out a chuckle as his hand flashed with red sparks, he then grasped Mao's face and his world exploded in searing pain. Then all went dark once again.

…

_Celestia, Outskirts of Nirvana City, Pand Compound, Entrance Hall (a few minutes earlier)_

Almaz, Sapphire and the Demon children found their exit blocked by several badge wearing demons. They stood there, men and women, looking at them pleadingly. "Stand aside…" Sapphire said, "… or we will be forced to make you."

"Please, we mean you no harm" one said.

"You must join us now…" said another, "now that Father Dorn has found Overlord Mao, the purge cannot be long behind."

Umeka ran to the front, distraught, terrified and angry, "What do you guys want with my Daddy?"

"Yeah, what the hell?" Cubelle yelled "You freaks have got a lot of explaining to do."

Almaz looked panicked, because he may have figured out who these people were. "What is the purge? You're with them aren't you, with the aliens?"

One of the men started toward them "Please, listen, there is nothing that can be done otherwise; either you swear faith to the Pand, or you will burn."

"The Pand… is that what they're called?"

Sapphire suddenly pulled out her gun and pointed it at the blockage. "Either you guys stand aside and let us, Lady Beryl and Sir Mao go, or I blow all your brains out." Almaz knew she meant it, and although he would usually have stopped her (not to mention questioned why she brought a gun on their vacation) he realised that these people, in some capacity, served the invaders, and thus, he couldn't help but hate them.

Another of them, a women cleric, spoke out "Look, I'll show that we mean no harm, my name is Florence, and I lived in the Gehenna Netherworld. I can help her leg."

"Please do… I don't know how much more of this I can take." Cubelle answered, clearly still angry but jumping at the chance to get her ankle better. Florence moved forward and held her hands up chanting a spell while Sapphire kept her gun trained on the others. In a flash of light, Florence was knocked aside as Cubelle leapt up, letting out an animalistic roar and hitting one of the guards in the chest with her palm, knocking him right through the metal door.

"Oh, look, they opened the door for us, wasn't that nice?" She said sweetly to a very surprised Sapphire and Almaz. She turned back "Who else wants to 'open the door'?" Those guarding the door clearly realised that, between the gun and the potential of getting thrown through a metal wall, it probably wasn't worth doing so any more, and they dispersed.

Cubelle ran out the door at an alarming speed and brought back the man who had 'opened the door' for her, who was groaning absently."You still haven't told us what you want with Mao." She said to him, becoming serious.

"We don't know, honest!" he said, panicked. Understandably not wanting to incur Cubelle's wrath again.

"Well, why don't you go and ask?" she said, throwing him aside.

As the severely bruised little man ran to oblige her, Almaz still stood in awe of what happened, for he'd never seen even a demon exhibit that kind of physical strength. "Ms Cubelle, was it really necessary to smash him through the wall?"

She gave him a cheeky smile that was reminiscent of Beryl's, "Hey, I held back" she said simply.

Almaz made a mental note to stay on Cubelle's good side. Sapphire lowered her gun "Wow, you sure are your Father's Daughter, huh?"

"Huh?" said Cubelle, acting confused, "Oh, Mao's not my Father. Not biologically, anyway. He and Beryl took me in when I was a baby."

"Oh right" Almaz said in acknowledgement, not sure what else to say to that.

"Yeah…" Umeka said "Mommy and Daddy found Cubelle, that's why I'm the Princess and the next Overlord."

"So, then, who are your real parents?" Almaz asked.

"Mao and Raspberyl are my real parents." Cubelle answered, sounding slightly offended. Almaz remembered his earlier mental note. "My biological parents were Ookami."

" Oh, I'm sorry, I think there's treatment for that now" said Sapphire.

"No! Ookami, it's a species of werewolf."

Almaz sighed; he thought that this sort of thing shouldn't surprise him anymore. Speaking of which, he noticed that Geoffrey had been silent for a long time. Almaz looked to see the butler fiddling with some sort of remote control. "Mr Geoffrey, are you okay?"

Geoffrey did not answer him; he just continued tinkering with this device. Almaz became suspicious of him; after all, it was this man who, all those years ago, had been the one who had set in motion the chain of events that got the former fake hero involved with the Netherworld. He became angry with the butler, remembering the terrible things he had done, "What are you doing?" he asked firmly.

"Oh, finally grew a pair, did you?" Geoffory scoffed, only it wasn't Geoffrey, Almaz's concerns had been realised; it was Aurum. Almaz swallowed hard, that was the voice he'd hoped that he'd never hear again. The voice that he once admired but now filled him with a familiar dread. He drew his sword, increasing trepidation as he wondered how things could get any worse, as they always did.

Sapphire drew her gun, an intense and deadly serious look forming on her face. "Sir Aurum, you honestly don't think that this is the time to rekindle the fire, do you? Put whatever that is away and we can focus on getting away with our lives."

A terrible grin emerged on the face of Aurum, "Ha! You think I care about living any more, I've wanted to die for ages now!"

Umeka hesitantly stepped toward Aurum, looking puzzled and hurt "Mr Geoffrey?"

Cubelle stepped between her and Aurum, confident as always, "So, you're showing your true colours at last? I knew there was something off about you. What's the matter? Too afraid to do it while Mao's still conscious, you _big, strong_ super hero?"

"Not at all…" the hero retorted disturbingly calmly, "I just wanted to put off my revenge until my 'young mistress' was old enough to do anything."

Umeka's eyes filled up with tears "Old enough for what?"

Aurum sneered "You, see, when I release the button, the demons which once gave me my power, will infest your body and put you under my command." The former hero made laughed manically "Then I'll make you kill your Daddy." He said mockingly between fits of laughter.

"But, I thought we were friends…" Umeka sobbed.

Almaz felt sick, he couldn't believe he once admired this man. "How dare you…" he growled, "… how dare you disgrace the name of heroes with your first act, and now do the unthinkable and disgrace us even more with this?"

"I gave Mao the chance to let me die, and what does he do?" Aurum's face went red and Almaz could feel the hatred from several feet away, "Straps me to a table and experiments on me. Now I pay him back, correct one last injustice, all with the touch of a button."

Sapphire kept her gun on him, "press that button and I'll blow your brains out" she yelled with more ferocity than Almaz had ever heard from her, which was to be expected as Almaz knew that she was as sickened as him.

The horrible grin returned, "Too late, Princess, I've pressed it; if you shoot me now then my finger releases pressure and you die by the hand of the child."

"Bastard…" Cubelle hissed.

…

As he watched Mao fade away, Dorn felt the satisfaction of a task being completed. Now that the business was out of the way, the fun part could begin. The lord Kevok wanted these heathens to be broken, physically or mentally, and Dorn would do his foremost to obey his deity. He knew that to harm another Pand was forbidden, but then nothing was said about heathens.

The way he saw it, a task such as this would drive one insane from the horror of it all. The key, then, was to enjoy it, to take pleasure from the screaming and the fear. He turned to Mao's little whore, who was still in the grasp of his acolytes, and began thinking of all the enjoyable things that would be cruel if done on a faithful Pand. She looked very fragile, and he felt exhilarated by the thought of finding out just how fragile.

He inspected his hand, and the blade-like fingers on it, and relished the idea of them penetrating her warm, pale flesh. He could do anything he wanted, he was fully in control, though she didn't seem to think so; she met his gaze, scared but not submissive, perhaps even angry. He would very much have liked to see if he could make her submissive. It was, after all, what the Lord wanted of him, he was doing what was asked of him. Her breathing intensified, and the euphoria rushed.

He was then overcome with disappointment as he became aware of the lord Kevok commanding him to bring Mao's mate to the homestead. A shame; he had been looking forward to showing her the error of her heretical ways in the most painful way possible. Still, there were plenty more heathens where she came from. As fragile as her, as _pretty_ as her.

"It would seem that you are required as well." He said to her "Which is a pity." He became aware of the blue light of the teleporter, as the heathen and one of his flanks disappeared.

The Pand were already aware of what they were to do; all he had to do was give the command. It was time to rip into these heretics. Dorn was sure he would enjoy this. He walked over to the door and kicked it down, then gave the command. The heathens outside the door turned to him, fantastic fear in their eyes. This really was going to be _fun_.

…

Almaz looked in horror at the creatures standing in the door; the one who'd kicked the door in started to walk in with what appeared to be swagger, which was a change. All the same, there they were, faced with death as they had been so many times before; only this time Almaz wasn't sure they could get away.

He turned to the broken door to see the guards had replaced themselves, looking back at them, confidently, but apologetically. The smell of rotting flesh from the creatures making his eyes water, Almaz sensed that this was it. He saw Sapphire, her gun in hand, but with a look of utter hopelessness in her eyes. He edged over and put his arm around her, holding her close.

The lead creature raised its arm, "My name is Dorn…" it said, surprising everyone, in a grungy, intimidating voice, what appeared to be a grin forming on its lips; "…and I am your salvation."

Meanwhile, Aurum was glaring with an enraged expression at the creature, "No, damn you, you're interrupting my revenge."

Dorn met his gaze, then raised his arm and a horrible screech ran out, the former hero was disintegrated. "No!" shouted Cubelle, and Almaz knew why; that would mean that his finger was released from the button. Umeka screamed and started to cry, but seemed normal.

Almaz went over to the button, now laying on the floor, it seemed to be intact. Then he felt Dorn thrust him aside as he started to examine the device. Almaz immediately sat up as Sapphire came over to see if he was alright.

"Hm" Dorn said thoughtfully. "Well, I certainly hope that this was nothing important, it won't work now." Almaz sighed in relief, but Umeka was still hysterical.

The newcomer looked angry, "Shut up!"

Umeka stopped suddenly, still whimpering, she was behind Cubelle, who seemed to be silently growling. "Anyway…" he said gleefully, as if he were giving a lecture to students, "… as I was saying, I am here to save you, to convert you to the true religion, that of the Pand." He thought he was sounding more convincing than he was, "The great Kevok wants you all to serve his higher purpose."

Almaz was angry again, as well as a little confused, "That's what this was, you want us to convert religion? You think you can kill everyone we know, and just expect us to convert."

"Yes" was the response, an annoyed roll of the eyes accompanied it. "Alternatively, I could try to _persuade _you to convert…" the preacher added perversely, he seemed to prefer this option "… or if you can't be converted, you burn." The perverted tone to his voice now becoming even more obvious.

Almaz wasn't sure what to do, fighting back would be certain death, yet he had no idea what conversion would entail, and even if he did, that was the coward's way out and, contrary to what he used to think, Almaz was no coward. But then, if Sapphire got hurt... or Mao and Ms Beryl's kids… or his son…

Dorn laughed "I see from your expressions that you won't convert easily, excellent." He wheezed, savouring every word like it was delicious.

"Where's my Mommy and Daddy?" Umeka asked Dorn forcefully, coming out from behind Cubelle. Almaz was impressed again for how much grit she had for her years.

"Umeka, no!" Cubelle yelled.

Dorn looked at her out of the corner of his eye, then turned toward her entirely. Cubelle put an arm around her, Almaz drew his sword, not entirely sure what this would accomplish. "Back off" growled Cubelle.

"You're Mao's girls aren't you?" He gave a short grunt of a laugh, "That figures, your very arrogant, like he is, and stupid." The grin grew, "Another trait you share with him is that I've backed you into a corner, like I did him, and now you're at my mercy, like him."

Then a voice from Dorn's crowd of followers spoke out, it was Florence, and Almaz was relieved to see that Cubelle hadn't hurt her too badly. "Are you going to hurt that child?" she asked, sounding bravely angry.

There was a noticeable change in Dorn's demeanour, his shoulder's sunk, and he seemed to frown. He sighed, and then launched himself at Florence so fast that Almaz barely saw him, "Are you questioning me, you little strumpet?" Almaz suddenly was barely able to control his anger, and started to make a move toward Dorn, but stopped when he saw one of the other creature's look at him. He hated how helpless he currently was; he was torn between protecting his wife and the hero's oath, which told him to help the innocent Florence, whose horrified, but defiant eyes he couldn't stop looking at as the guilt tugged at his heart. He found himself frozen to the spot, maybe he was a coward after all.

"Have you forgotten who plucked you from the gutter?" Dorn continued through gritted teeth.

A gunshot ran out and the lights went out. "Get down!" Almaz heard Sapphire yell, just before that familiar screech rang out. He hit the floor and covered his head, and was conscious of a small ball of unbearable heat zip over him.

"Little Bitch!" Dorn yelled, clearly in a tantrum. Almaz knew he only had a minute, he raised to a crouch, and started toward the light of the hole made by Cubelle. "Kill them! Kill them!" The fury assaulting Almaz's ears again. He saw the outline of a woman holding a child zoom out the opening, he felt a soft hand grab his and he and Sapphire followed suit. In the light of the day, the angel city on the horizon, Almaz, Sapphire and Cubelle, who was holding a terrified Umeka started sprinting toward the city.

…

As the light returned, Dorn looked around, and saw no sign of the heathens. His rage reaching unprecedented levels, he looked around for that little idiot, Florence. He caught sight of her on the floor, hands over her head, breathing heavily and crying.

"You, you let them get away… you let the heathens get away."

"I'm sorry!" she sobbed.

"Are you sure that you're devoted to the great Kevok?"

"Yes! Yes, I swear!" she got up to her knees and clasped her hands together.

In truth, Dorn didn't doubt her faith, nor was it necessarily a problem that these heathens had escaped, but she deserved to die for how angry she had made him, and how he'd been robbed of yet another chance to torture a heathen. He raised his hand and slammed it satisfyingly hard down on her head. She fell slumped to the floor, still alive, still sobbing. Maybe he could have his fun, after all.

Dorn felt a sense of relief from having expelled some of this anger. He turned to see the terrified faces of his other followers, and the blank stares and chattering mouths of his fellow Pand. He saw this fear as something he could use; perhaps this would prevent others letting their morals get in the way as the crying mass on the floor just had. "Start the purge, I shall join you soon."

The shaking followers immediately complied, as did the two Pand. He heard Florence start to stand up behind him. He quickly turned, and grasped her shoulder and she let out a yelp of pain as his fingers pierced her skin. He looked up, he saw that a few followers had stopped, presumably worried for her well being. A sharp look from their master, however, and they returned to the Lord's work. Indeed, intimidation was going to be a useful tool, a very useful tool.

When they were all gone, he looked down into her wide, tear ridden, frightened eyes, and once again thought of all the terrible things he wanted to do to Raspberyl. He yanked her to her feet and pushed her against a wall, before leaping forward and pinning her there.

"Please…" she breathed.

"You are a heathen Florence, and heathens must die…" he felt a great wave of euphoria sweep over his body as her eyes widened "...eventually anyway."

…

The followers of the Pand headed toward the city, the heathens out of sight. They forced themselves to ignore the agonised screams and gurgling of blood coming from inside the compound.

_A.N._

_Yet another chapter done after several months. There are bits of it that I am incredibly proud of._

_About a week ago, I considered putting my efforts on hiatus, but now I'm back._

_Anyhoo, I hope you guys hate Dorn, he's supposed to be an evil son of a bitch who crosses the Moral Event Horizon like it's a street sign. Although, I'd like to point out that he has not done the 'special kind of evil', but he may have the capacity to… but I digress_

_Again, I apologise for the massive gaps, and thank you all again for reading._

_Next few Chapters in development, no promises, but I'll do what I can. I'm still hoping to finish this by January._

_Until next time._


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Only the good...

"Haaaahahahaha!" Laharl stood in the gateway laughing hard; "...and one bugged eyed freak learned not to mess with the Great Laharl!"

"Dad! You made it!" exclaimed Ryouta, laughing slightly in relief.

Taken aback slightly by the concern that his son obviously had for him "'Course I did! You didn't really think I'd let some Predator wannabe off me did you?" he said, trying to sound reassuring. He wasn't used to this kind of worry for his safety' then nothing like this had ever happened before.

"Aw Prince, ya gotta stop making us think you're dead like that, you wouldn't want me stealing all your money and usurping the throne too early now would you?" Etna said playfully.

Zommie interjected "If I might interrupt, we need to keep moving"

Laharl faced his loyal vassal "Great idea, glad I thought of it."

Flonne came up to Laharl and hugged him. She seemed happy, yet sad at the same time. "I'm glad you're okay, but please don't let this go to your head, I…"

"As if I would." Laharl said, again trying to sound reassuring, and from Flonne's face, he thought that he must have failed.

He then looked over at his daughter, who, as always, was totally indifferent. Though, she was looking not at him, but at Ryouta, with what seemed to be envy, ever since the brief conversation a moment ago. Like she was jealous of his concern for him.

As they began to walk away, Laharl spotted Etonne with her back to him. "Etonne..." he called with a renewed seriousness "mind if we talk".

The Princess of the Netherworld tutted, "Alright, I guess."

He struggled to talk to her, how she'd been so nonchalant about the idea of his death when the death of his own Mother had shaken him to his core. He finally decided to just grab the bull by the horns, "Etonne, you hate me don't you?"

She maintained her icy composure "I'm not entirely sure... I'm indifferent actually. I'm indifferent to everyone."

Laharl winced "Ever since then, you've just suppressed all feelings?"

"Mm hm" she answered in her usual monotone, "at the time... Feelings were scary, I jumped at little things, I was afraid of everything. Not now." she gave a short, bitter laugh "Being afraid would be welcome now."

Laharl then realised what that incident, that kidnapping as a small child all those years ago, those three days in a tiny cage had done. Before, she was his little Princess, sweet and loving, like Flonne, like his Mother. But that was it, that little girl didn't change by choice, she was afraid to feel, and now can't go back. In that moment, he understood everything, the horror movies, seeing boys in secret. Etonne was desperately trying to feel something, and just can't. If he'd only protected her better…

…

"Laharl?" the Overlord was snapped out of his brooding by a familiar voice. It was Ozonne, Flonne's younger sister. "Heeeeellllooooo?"

Laharl felt as though she had just woke him up "Ozonne, when did you get here?" he asked, feeling slightly annoyed but trying to sound accommodating.

She shrugged and winked at him "About a minute ago; it's really not like you to be in a world of your own... I figured you'd be ranting about how great you were..." the last part was clearly meant to be seductive, but the Overlord had no interest.

Flonne laughed slightly, "Actually, you just missed that."

Ozonne grinned mischievously as she tried to get a little closer to the demon. He was getting seriously tired of her trying to force herself between him and Flonne, she had been doing it since he'd met her, back then it was tolerable, but now that Laharl and Flonne were happily married it just got tiresome, and the really annoying thing? Laharl knew that she was now just doing this to irritate her sister, an intention he had little patience for. He simply said "How many times? I'm really not interested in you like that."

"Can't blame a girl for trying" she whispered trying to stay out of Flonne's hearing range. It clearly didn't work as Flonne folded her arms and pouted, clearly as tired of this as he was. Ozonne turned to Flonne and smiled as innocently as she could, "There are still plenty of human terrorists lurking about, nothing your big strong man couldn't handle..." Laharl was about to start yelling but Flonne stopped him in time with a sharp look "...Nevertheless, my defence forces and I are here to escort you."

"What forces would those be? There's just you" Ryouta asked observantly. At which point, angel guards appeared as if out of nowhere as they deactivated their camo. One appeared directly behind the young Prince, startling him and sending him leaping into a fighting pose, "I could have killed you, bro" Ryouta said with unconvincing false confidence.

The guardian smirked, "Of course you could" he said, making no attempt to hide his sarcasm. Laharl smirked and decided against telling this idiot that Ryouta may not have been just talking out of his ass. Ryouta obviously saw his grin and returned it with his usual cockiness. Just for a second, Laharl could have been looking at his younger self.

The group travelled to the city in near silence. That is, until Ryouta spoke "So, not even the Armageddon persuades these weird humans to call it quits."

Etna laughed, "They're a human supremacy group, they're stupid by definition." Even despite (or maybe because of) his encounters with humans, Laharl couldn't help but agree.

…

The long walk was fairly uneventful; the thought of delving deeper into Etonne's troubles made Laharl uncomfortable. There was little more to discuss other than the end of the world, and that was none too attractive a topic either. When they eventually arrived in Nirvana City, Laharl and his party were shocked by what they found. The glistening streets had been desecrated by trash and refuse. As they wandered through the city, all space besides a thin, single file path in the centre was occupied by small tents, outside and inside of which were demons and humans, crying, mourning, barely alive. Some were lying in their tents, nursing wounds, others were curled up and rocking back and forward.

These shells of former people, their souls forcibly ripped from them as their lives were destroyed, eyed the newcomers. Some with suspicion, others with fear, a few glared at the royal familys with anger; as if they had been betrayed. The air was full of the crying of men, women and children and the stench of sweat and blood was ever present. It was like two different places at once, the luxury buildings, pristine and white, just behind the terrible scene of the refugees. Above, the resident angels looked down at the masses in disgust or hid themselves and their children from it, and then folded back into their big, luxury apartments.

This was the safe haven they had reached.

...

_Celestia, Nirvana City, Outside Seraph's Mansion_

Ozonne's group had led Laharl and his family to a large building. By all accounts, it was beautiful, purest white walls, gleaming stained glass windows all washed and polished to perfection. The various beggars and thieves that inhabited the streets were held back by guards armed with spears. This hardly surprised Laharl; he could tell by the constant glares given by their escorts to the rabble of hungry, angry looking humans and demons that the masses were desperate, desperate enough, perhaps, for an uprising.

Ozonne thanked her men and sent them on their way before beckoning to the Demon Royals to enter the building. As Laharl stepped into the building, a shout from behind him caught his attention; he turned to see Etna in a heated argument with one of the guards. They seemed to be not allowing her entry; neither were they letting Dratti or Zommie past them. Etna, being her good self, seemed extremely angry. "Hey, buddy, do you know who you're dealing with here?" she yelled through gritted teeth.

The angel guard stood, a face celebrating triumph of the Great Angels over the savage, child-like Demon race. "I'm terribly sorry" he said in a tone that was intentionally condescending, "but the Seraph's invitation extends to the Gehenna Netherworld's royal family only."

"I don't think you _do_ know who you're dealing with, because if you did you'd know that people who talk to me like that tend to drop dead" the demoness growled in response.

Ryouta leapt up to the action "Hey, no one disrespects my family like that." Laharl figured that Ryouta was talking to him as well as Etna. The Overlord's own anger was growing, he had had more than enough of this superiority complex that the Angels had always possessed and was willing to teach them the error of their ways.

Flonne quickly stood between them and the angels. "Have all of you forgotten why we're here?" she scolded them. "Because if we weren't, we'd be dead, hunted like animals, so how about we don't get ourselves thrown out?"

Laharl was about to yell back when Zommie, who was holding the ravenous Etna back along with Dratti, piped up "I am inclined to agree, we cannot afford to anger our hosts."

Etna stopped thrashing and pulled herself free as calmly as she could, "Fine…" she said sharply, walking away with a barely repressed anger. An expression of pure, albeit, withheld outrage which seemed to unnerve even Ryouta.

Laharl watched his vassals be sent away, a slight amount of concern of the untold havoc that an angry Etna may wreak, as he was led into the building. But above all, he was angry and shocked; he had come to expect this sort of disrespect from Angels, but for his own wife to humiliate him in such a way, to treat him as a child in front of his children and underlings was utterly unthinkable. How dare she?

The building's interior was every bit as gaudy as the exterior, spotless white marble, a grand staircase in the middle, several meticulously clean doors leading to various sitting rooms, but for the purity of the white and the general 'pretty' look, it could have easily have been an Overlord's Castle. Before the door even closed, Seraph Simian was running down the staircase, looking quite panicked. He was short and did not carry the same presence as his Father and predecessor, Lamington, had. For from the imposing, yet gentle force Lamington had about him, Simian gave the impression of a hapless teen who had no idea what he was doing, despite being in his mid 3000s. He had short, greasy grey hair, and an impish face that Laharl instinctively did not trust. Laharl had met several people who were medically insane; he thought that each and every one of them could do Simian's job better.

"Overlord Laharl…" he wheezed pathetically when he got to the bottom of the stairs, his voice high pitched and raspy "…welcome." He looked at Flonne, obviously keen to avoid Laharl's furious gaze, "And it is good to see you, Archangel Flonne, very good."

He then glanced at Etonne and was probably going to make a brainless remark about how much she had grown. With that, Laharl was already annoyed with him. "D'ya think we could skip this?" the Overlord said.

Simian jumped back with a gasp, obviously intimidated by him. "Y, yes of course, the meeting will start soon."

"What meeting?" Flonne asked.

"Oh! Um, the meeting of the Archangels and other VIPs as to how to proceed with the counter attack to the invaders" came the hurried response.

Laharl sighed, he acknowledged begrudgingly that counter attack was impossible and meetings to discuss it were pointless, not that he could be bothered to explain it to this fool. "Fine, see you there" he said, wanting to be rid of this laughable man.

Etonne suddenly stepped forward, "Hey, angel, you got any food in this fancy old mansion", monotonous as always.

"Yes, certainly" said Simian, "I shall arrange for food immediately, if you'd like to wait in the guest room."

Laharl got the impression that Simian wanted to get away from him, not that this worried him; the feeling was mutual. "See you later" he replied uncaringly.

As the man laughingly called the Seraph darted away, Etonne impatiently made her way to the room he had just gestured to. Laharl looked down at Ryouta, who was watching his sister with a great amount of irritation before listening to his stomach and begrudgingly following her in.

The Overlord turned to his Queen, still angry about her having made a fool of him, but sufficiently calmed down so as to be civilised about the whole thing. He gulped "You shouldn't have shown me up like that, Flonne…" he said, satisfied that he was holding his anger back acceptably, "My subjects need a strong leader, especially now."

Flonne glared at him; he was taken aback by this unprecedented action, "I was just stopping you from getting us thrown back to those invaders." she replied calmly, though Laharl got the distinct impression that she was hurt.

"I could have handled it…"

"Really?"

Laharl suddenly felt himself get angry again "I don't need you to keep an eye on my behaviour, do you understand me? Do you think I'm some kind of kid?"

To his surprise, Flonne maintained her composure "Laharl, I love you, but you can be… frankly pigheaded and unthinking. You behave like what I would expect a stereotypical demon to behave."

"So, you actually agree with the rest of the angels. Are actually with me or against m…"

"Shut up!"

It came out of nowhere, Laharl didn't know how to respond, this was not like her at all.

"There's an alien invasion, our lives as we knew them are over, and you're still worried about your reputation?!"

"My reputation is important, especially…"

"I don't treat you like a child because of some inherent racism, I treat you like a child because you still act like a child!"

Laharl couldn't hold himself back, before he could think, he felt himself charging up a ball of energy in his hand. Flonne gasped and stepped back, looking simultaneously shocked and livid. Laharl quickly realised what he was doing and the energy ball dissipated. He couldn't believe it; he could have killed her, and for one horrifying second, he actually wanted to.

"F, Flonne…"

She stood up and stared right at him with pure shock, then, tears streaming down her face, scurried away. Laharl felt like a scolded child, and actually began hating himself.

…

_Celestia, Nirvana City, Seraph's Mansion_

"Man…" Ryouta said, reflecting on all that had happened. "So, where the hell is everybody?"

Etonne was feeding on a ration pack; Ryouta had thrown his away, the taste was revolting, but she didn't seem to care. Nor did she care to look at him as he spoke to her, "What are you talking about?" She inquired in monotone.

Ryouta had another look around the room, he saw many Overlords, a few of whom he recognised from his trading cards, but did not see any of the Demon Lords whose children he had befriended. "I mean my friends…" he answered quickly "… I thought that I'd see 'em out on the streets, but I didn't, and I don't see any in here, then again those guys on the door said 'royal family only' so…"

The older demon sighed, a sigh which worried Ryouta, "Hate to tell you this kid, but we were the only ones who made it out of Gehenna."

Ryouta didn't believe her, she must have been lying, "No, no, we couldn't of been, they must have got out, they just must of, I mean, Loki showed me an escape tunnel in his Dad's mansion and…"

Still, doubts crept into the young demon's head, but he expelled them. His friends couldn't be gone, they… he…

Etonne turned to him now, the same ice cold stare as she always wore, "Look, Ryouta, your friends can't have made it, not the ones in the castle, anyway."

"Shut up!" shouted Ryouta, feeling the emotions overcoming him. "You don't even care, do you?" he said, reluctantly letting tears out, "About the castle, our home, our lives, you just don't give a damn; you don't give a damn about anything." The Prince struggled to get his breath as he wheezed as sobbed his words. "You emotionless bitch!"

He looked up at her; of course, his words had made no impact whatsoever, she just stared at him, chewing her food. "I really want to feel something, but I can't" she said factually "I'm sorry if that offends you.".

Somehow, Ryouta found this hard to believe. Before he could voice this opinion, however, his mother came into the room, her hand shielding her tear strewn face. "Mom? Mom, what's the matter?" Ryouta asked worriedly. She looked down at him, her eyes filled with sadness, almost like she felt betrayed, but she gave a forced smile to him.

"Nothing you need concern yourself with, honey." She then noticed that he had been crying and a look of concern that would have embarrassed him any other time rose up, "Are _you _alright?"

"Mom… my friends?"

"Oh…" she frowned "Ryouta… you're a big boy now, and I think that you deserve the truth…" she put a warm, loving hand on his shoulder "… I'm sorry but… your friends in the castle; Lily and Toma, the guard's children, I really don't think they would have made it out."

Ryouta looked down at the ground; it didn't seem true coming from Etonne, but somehow, his Mother's voice carried a sense of truth with it; he'd never known his mother to lie. He sniffed and clenched his fists, he felt like sobbing again, but held it back. "Okay…" he said.

His mother gently put her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, this time, Ryouta did not resist. He returned the hug, trying to comfort her as well for whatever had upset her, still refusing to cry again.

"Ryouta, you're such a strong person, I'm proud of you" she whispered in his ear before pulling away and kissing him on the forehead, "I love you. Remember, Mommy will always love you."

Then she stood up and looked at Etonne with the same forced smile and genuine motherly love. "Etonne, sweetie, how are you holding up?"

Etonne shrugged "Okay, I guess." She gave one of her bitter laughs "Like I said to Dad, the world comes to an end, and I don't feel anything. Guess I really am just an emotionless bitch." This was a name that Ryouta now regretted calling her; it was a heat of the moment thing which he hoped Mom hadn't heard him shout.

If she did hear, she didn't show it. Instead, Their Mother just stepped close to her daughter, "Oh, my little girl, my poor little girl" she said sadly. She pulled her into a hug too, "I love you too. Don't think that not feeling anything makes you a bad person… we know better than that…" She pulled away and looked Etonne in the eye, "You're a good person, Etonne, but you've had bad things happen to you, things that weren't your fault."

For a second, Ryouta thought that he saw his sister smile, and saw a glint of hope at the same time, but he wasn't sure. To be honest, he doubted it.

…

Laharl was still angry with himself; at how his temper led him to almost attack Flonne. Why did he do that? How did he have it in him to do it? "Damnit…" he said aloud. He was such an idiot! Letting his temper get the best of him… and hurting the person he loved the most. The Overlord bit his lip as he realised that hurting those he loved most was something he was really good at; his Father, Etonne, and now Flonne.

All the windows in the building let loose a blinding light, yanking Laharl from his self pity. He became aware of a smell of rotting flesh and the ringing in his ears intensifying. He charged to the window, hearing screams from outside, and saw those damn creatures, barging past people in the street, knocking them to the ground, where they shielded themselves from expected attacks.

Laharl panicked for his family's safety, spun around and ran to the adjoining room, kicking down the door. "They're here! Those things are here!" He caught a glimpse of Flonne's confused face as she pulled herself out of a hug with Etonne before the room descended into chaos.

"My friends…" came the voice of Simian, amplified by a megaphone, "… my friends please! Calm yourselves!" they, unsurprisingly, ignored him. Laharl braced himself and unleashed his power to ram through the panicking crowd to where his family were. He finally found them and started to say that they needed to get out of here, but Flonne silenced him with an icy glare, an unforgiving glare.

She snatched the megaphone from the hysterical Simian, "Quiet!" she shouted, more forcefully than anyone other than Laharl knew she could be, and the crowd obeyed her. "We need to calm down and barricade the doors. There's no way out for us now, we need to keep them out for as long as we can!"

There was a general sense of agreement among the masses, and they all started barricading all the doors with the furniture.

The banging started almost immediately, voices from outside varied between pleading and anger;

"Please let us in…"

"Get out here!"

"Heathens!"

Laharl realised that the crowd outside were actually mostly supporting the monsters. Those bastards were actually cheering for them.

"Dad…" Ryouta's voice came from behind him, "… can we fight them?"

Laharl clenched his fists; he didn't want to lie, but then the truth may have been too much for him. But then the Overlord thought of how much stronger Ryouta was in dealing with the ordeal with Etna a year before; and now, with the destruction of everything he once knew. Laharl knew one thing about his kid, and that was that he was strong, both in power and personality. "Probably not…" he begrudgingly answered.

"We're gonna die, aren't we?" The child's voice was calm and collected. Laharl turned to see a determined, but nonetheless scared, face.

The Overlord grinned, forcing determination to rise up "Not if I have anything to do with it!" he announced confidently. His son returned the grin, showing the old Krichevskoy cockiness.

The sound was pierced by ear splitting static, then all fell silent. Then a voice boomed through the streets, penetrating the doors, walls and barricades. "This is Dorn, the saviour of you all. You have nothing to fear from the Pand, so long as you give yourself to them. You shall all be a part of the new order, part of the master race. Do it for yourself, do it for your family…" there was a pause, followed by a second of low, perverse cackling, "… do it for your life!"

Laharl felt Flonne's hand on her shoulder; the grip was firm, "I think we need to show that we're going along with them. At least until we think of something else…"

Laharl couldn't believe what he was hearing, was she implying surrender? He didn't care either way; Laharl was brimming with an excitement he hadn't felt in ages. "Don't worry!" he shouted with a euphoric arrogance, like the Overlord he was, "There won't be any need for that, I can protect you from these freaks."

"Just like outside the gate! You don't learn do you?"

"Flonne, I got this…"

"No, no, no, you haven't! Just listen for once!" Laharl turned to see tears running down his wife's face. "You think I'm just some ditz, don't you? That I'm stupid?"

Laharl felt as if he had just been punched in the gut. "Flonne…"

Flonne shut her eyes tight, and Laharl looked to his children; Ryouta looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and Etonne was just looking back at him. Just staring right into his soul.

Flonne finally spoke again after what seemed like an eternity of silence, her face like Laharl had never seen it; angry, sad, and with a stony determination. It made Laharl feel cold inside, like all of her warmth had gone "Fine. Stay. Get yourself killed. But I will not let you risk my children, we're going through with what I said. We'll go along with those people outside, and try to survive."

…

_Celestia, Outskirts of Nirvana City, Pand Complex_

Samuel had the very risky task of telling Dorn the progress from Nirvana City. When he got the news, his blood ran cold; he knew Dorn would be angry and when Dorn was angry, he seemed to have trouble telling the person who made him angry from whoever happened to be standing there at the time, a massive shiner on Samuel's face was proof of that. When a group of demons had refused to join the Pand; Dorn was still in his angel form then, he had kept smiling until they got back to the complex, then he beckoned Samuel over, still smiling and punched him right in the face before screaming in fury. The mere thought of that sound made Samuel tremble. This time was different; this time he _was_ the thing that made Dorn angry, right in the line of fire.

He stood shaking in the door way, watching Dorn pick apart what was left of Florence, he looked bored. Blood stained the walls and the floors and a foul stench assailed Samuel's nostrils, but he was too scared to care, he just couldn't take his eyes off of Florence's corpse, one leg, no arms. He knew her, worked with her in Gehenna serving a Demon Lord, she was nice, he thought maybe he'd had a crush on her. He hated himself for not trying to stop Dorn. What could he have done? Dorn would only have killed him too…

"Do you have something to say, boy?" Dorn said, startling Samuel. He turned to look at him with an impatient expression, "Well?" he said, sounding irritated

Samuel had to force himself to speak, "Yes, Lord Dorn… there's news from the city."

"Obviously, or you wouldn't be interrupting to me!" Dorn was close to shouting.

"Some people have barricaded themselves in a large building and…"

"Damn it! Can you fools not do _anything_ without me holding your hands?!"

Samuel physically jumped, and his terror reached levels that he didn't think possible. He opened his mouth to speak but he just couldn't force the words out.

"Fine, I'll go." Dorn said, walking towards the door, and Samuel had to stop himself from retreating against the wall. Dorn stopped in front of him, and Samuel braced himself. But Dorn didn't do anything to him. He gave him a terrible grin,"Might be fun, eh?"

"Y, yes, my Lord"

Dorn walked away, laughing to himself. Samuel felt himself ease, thanking the god that he was still alive. But then Dorn turned around, with that evil grin dominating his face "clear away the mess, will you?"

Samuel complied, and started crying the moment he looked into Florence's wide, terrified, lifeless eyes.

…

_Celestia, Nirvana City, Seraph's Mansion_

Laharl stood in the hall staring at the barricaded door; beginning to doubt himself. But his anger and his pride consumed him, and he refocused himself on the oncoming fight. He tried to shut Flonne's words out, not entirely successfully.

After about thirty minutes of the futile cries of the people behind the door for the barricades to be taken away, and of the deafening silence behind him, finally, another voice spoke. "Come out, my friends, I only wish to talk." It was the voice from the recorded message earlier. He sounded refined, calm, and almost happy. Still, Laharl knew repressed aggression when he heard it.

Someone made a move toward the door, but a glare from Laharl made him decide against it. "We need to let them in." someone else said.

"The hell we do." Laharl replied sharply, "They'll just kill us as soon as they come in."

"So what?" said Flonne behind him, "They'll definitely kill us if you put up a fight. If we go along with it, they might let us live." Laharl turned to her, opening his mouth to try to convince her that fighting was the only way, but she kept talking. "Look, Laharl, I love you…" she said tenderly, but then she frowned, and got uncharacteristically serious once again, "… but I will not risk my children to satisfy your pride."

Laharl's mind was thrown into more doubt than he could handle. He nodded at her, and turned and made his way to the door.

"I'm getting tired of waiting…" said the voice from outside, the aggression now much more obvious. "If this door's not open on the count of ten, I'll destroy it and whatever idiot is acting as your ringleader."

Laharl stopped, his anger renewed, and his will to fight returned. He grinned and clenched his fists. "Laharl!" he heard Flonne yell in desperate anger.

"One, Two, Three…"

Laharl sucked in air to give his signature cackle.

"Four… Ten!"

The door exploded, and Laharl's ears rang deafeningly, his vision blurring. He fell back and forced himself to look up, as the outline of one of those creatures honed into view. There was something different about this one, though. It stood with an almost elegant posture; not like its bolt-upright friends, and as Laharl's vision returned, he saw a look of rage on its face, that was yet strangely mixed with a kind of passion. Whatever was different, Laharl knew what he was going to do.

Its eyes flicked to him, looking at him from head to toe, as if evaluating him. "Are you the ringleader here?" it asked impatiently.

Laharl grinned widely and stood up "That's right!"

The creature seemed surprised, "What, That's it? Just 'That's right'?" After a second, though, it regained its composure, "Well, in any case; if you drop to your knees and beg for mercy now, I'll forget this little episode ever happened."

Laharl rose and, summoning up all the memories of glorious victory, howled his signature laugh. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with; for only a fool would willingly cross the great and supreme Overlord!" He yelled in all his pride filled glory.

There was a pause, an awkward silence, which was finally broken by Dorn; "Right…" he said, sounding completely deadpan. "Well my name is Dorn." He then launched himself forward, faster than Laharl could react, and smacked the Overlord into the air, grabbing him by the antennae and slamming him back to the floor.

Laharl's head boomed, and he leapt up, throwing a fire-covered fist at Dorn, which was effortlessly caught. Laharl stood, shocked and furious, the latter of which was made worse by the condescending tone of the bastard; "Oh, I'm sorry, were you not ready? Was there another verse of your little Ode?" He threw Laharl back to the ground and laughed, "well how about this, oh mighty Overlord?" he stepped on Laharl's chest, sending pain sparking through it and into his neck and arms, "If you can land just one shot on my body or my head, be it physical or magical, then I will leave you and your… subjects... alone." The son of a bitch! Laharl screamed with rage and tried to leap up to punch him again only to be side stepped, and to land on the marble floor once again. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then?"

"Don't you dare mock me!" Laharl shouted as he spun around for another attack, but it jumped over him. The same happened again, and then again. The humiliation, made worse by the laughing, drove Laharl to break out his big guns. He summoned up a small ball of dark energy, his Overlord's Rage spell, and hurled it at Dorn, who leapt up to half way up one of the pillars. Another shot, and the son of a bitch jumped up to the top of the opposite pillar. Another one, and Dorn let himself fall down to the floor, landing on his feet, still brandishing that superior grin as the dust cleared. Laharl let out an almost primal scream of rage as he summoned up his Overlord's Wrath spell, "bite the dust" he hissed as he fired them at the pretentious bastard standing there, still looking so damn smug. To the pure shock of Laharl, Dorn jumped up and caught and threw each fireball and threw it up to the ceiling, destroying the roof.

Laharl grew despondent, his rage disappeared. He realised that Flonne was right all along. But now his pride had led to the fruition of one of two possibilities; one, Laharl failed and everyone here died, or two, he punched laughing boy right in his smug face. Laharl knew that it _had _to be two. He gritted his teeth again and fired his fist right at Dorn's face, and, just as he'd thought, Dorn brought his hand up to catch it. At the exact moment Dorn caught Laharl's fist, the Overlord used the point where their two hands connected to swing underneath and kick this bastard in the chest.

Laharl nearly cried out as Dorn's other hand grabbed his leg, stopping his plan in its tracks. He then let go of Laharl's fist and swung him around in a circle by his ankle, crashing him through another pillar. Dorn then released Laharl, sending him flying into a wall.

All the air left Laharl's body as his back smacked against the wall. There was a sharp crack as his head snapped back into the wall, which was followed by a dull, humming ache and a sticky sensation at the back of his skull. His vision blurred and swayed. The crowd shouted and screamed and chattered, all just noise to the dazed Overlord. He thought he could make out his family's voices, but had no idea what they were saying. His head slumped, and he heard Dorn's patronising voice once again, ridiculing him. After this, there was a loud, metallic screech. He looked up to see a growing red light. Laharl bowed his head again, closed his eyes and waited for death.

But it didn't come. After about a minute, Laharl thought that he must have been shot by now. Still, all he heard was a low ringing. He opened his eyes, and immediately he would have rather died a thousand times over.

Flonne stood in front of him, doubled over and clutching her chest. Slowly, to him at least, the red light enveloped her. She turned her face to look into his eyes, and started to say something. But her face covered in red and Flonne's body shattered as if she were glass.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_Veldime, Coliseum, Bar_

Shocked silence fell in the room as the gunshot's final echo faded away. Adell felt sick; what the hell had he just seen? His little sister, who'd he'd seen less than an hour after her birth, had just put a gun to her head and fired. Rozalin put her arms around him, and Adell held her close, comfort that they both needed right now.

"Hanako…" Rozalin whispered, "… why'd she have to…" she winced and cried silently. She then looked right ahead, as if she had seen someone pull a gun on her. "My god, Shane and Sarah, they're still out there. They're out there with those monsters."

"No one else is going to die today" Adell said to her, forcing himself to focus on reality. Their lives had just been thrown into chaos, but, in order to stay alive, he knew that they couldn't afford to sit around and worry. "Let's grab what we can and find our kids."

Axel stood up sheepishly "Well, if you guys do that, then I'll be... Erm... Guarding this bar..."

Adell glared at him "If you stay in one place you're basically as good as dead." At this, the Dark Hero sank down and started to whimper pathetically.

So they set about grabbing essentials. As Adell was shoving bags of peanuts and potato chips into an old sack he found under the bar, he saw Axel try to take some strong beer, and Rozalin simply told him to grow up. Adell smiled in spite of himself.

All the while, Katarina sat at a table, staring into space; Adell knew it must be even more difficult for her, the worst thing that had happened to her before this was getting a bad report card. Now here she was, having just watched her Aunt kill herself just after staring death in the face herself. He went over to the table, thinking that he would have to fight very hard to keep her, and the rest of his family alive. That wasn't a problem; he would die for Roz or any one of his children.

"Are you okay, Kat?" he asked her softly, making her jump.

"Mm..." she answered, looking to be in a kind of trance. "This... This is real?"

Adell sighed, "That's right" he said sadly.

She took a deep breath and shut her eyes tightly for a second, holding back her tears. "I get it now... Why you don't want me to fight... Why Mommy was so concerned about Shane and Sarah fighting."

He put a comforting hand on her shoulder, so proud of how strong she was being, "You've seen things today that no one should ever have to see, especially not a little girl. I'm sorry, Kat."

She looked him in the eyes, "I'm scared, Daddy."

"I know, Princess." He hugged her tightly, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

"We're ready" he heard Axel say.

Kat stood up and threw her arms around her Mother, who did the same to her, whispering reassurances into her ear. Adell watched them and felt the love he felt for them stronger than ever. He would get them through this; he had to.

So their search began, with Kat holding her Mommy's hand tight, still refusing to cry.

...

_Veldime, Former Nightclub District_

Sarah sank to her knees; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The smoke which had led her back was coming from the nightclub she was at with her friends less than an hour ago.

"Taka, Shu, Tink... They're all dead... All dead" she said to herself repeatedly. Breathing heavily, missing her family, even Shane.

Were they looking for her? Were they dead?

Or had they abandoned her?

She tried to repress her sadness and anger; having one of her Schizo episodes wouldn't accomplish anything, she told herself. Her emotions were raging, a burning sensation ran all through her body. Thoughts of hopelessness and horror ran through her head. But then, a kind of unfeeling peace came, almost as if this tragedy was the most normal thing in the world.

She didn't need her family.

Or her friends.

Or anyone.

For the first time, she was sure of something.

She'd figured it all out.

This was true, she knew it.

She was a being of solitude.

…

_Veldime, Coliseum, Bar_

Just as they were about to leave however, Adell heard footsteps outside. One of those things was coming to see what had happened to its friend. He gestured for the others to stop, and then braced himself. He looked back at Rozalin, whose hand was still being held tight by Katarina; he mouthed "hide" to them. Rozalin nodded and led Kat back behind the bar, drawing her gun.

Axel seemed to be panicking, Adell could hear him whimpering. He angrily waved Axel away, which he did. He then He heard them talking, Rozalin reassuring the terrified Kat, "It's going to be okay, sweetie."

"But what about Daddy?" came the little voice, who was still brave enough not to cry. Roz gently shushed her, and Adell wanted to tell them to move, before it was too late. He dashed to the side of the door; maybe a surprise attack would delay the creature longer and give them more time to escape. The footsteps grew louder, and Adell felt beads of sweat drip from his brow, he tried to silence his breathing as best he could. He probably wouldn't survive this fight, but then he had done the impossible in the names of the ones he loved before. A shadow formed in the doorway, and he got ready to pounce. Adell felt the sting of fear, for himself as well as his family, but he never let fear defeat him, that wasn't his style.

As the footsteps reached the door, Adell crouched to jump on it and let out a primal scream.

Shane turned with a start, "Whoa! Dad?" he shouted, reeling from the shock.

"Shane! Oh, thank god." Adell yelled, feeling the fear melt away at the sheer joy of seeing his boy was alright.

Rozalin leapt out from behind the bar, ran to Shane and embraced him. "Oh Shane, you're alive! Oh my little boy!"

"Who told you I was dead?" he asked, in his usual rebellious tone. Still, Adell didn't care about his attitude; his son was alive, and that was all that mattered.

"Big bro!" Kat yelled with tears in her eyes, grabbing his hand with both of hers, "Oh, I'm so happy you're okay!"

But, still, one of Adell's children was still missing "Shane, have you seen Sarah?" he asked.

Shane looked down at the ground and sighed, "She was back at the nightclub. You think she's okay?"

"I don't know…" Adell hissed, feeling more helpless than he had in his whole life. "Damn it!" He got out his cell phone and tried calling her again. Still nothing. Adell had to stop himself from breaking everything in the room; he had to save his energy.

Then Axel piped up again, "Well, seeing as we're now one man up, I guess I can leave you guys safe in the knowledge that uh…"

Adell had had enough of this crap; he grabbed the Dark Hero by the collar, "If you say one more word, I'm going to punch you out and _drag _you with us" he said, meaning every word of it. Of course Axel did his usual 'comedic sweating' thing.

Rozalin pulled him off, "Adell, calm down, you're not going to solve anything by whaling on Axel" she said firmly. At this, Axel starting panting and thanking the god he didn't believe in.

"What about me?" Shane asked, "Cause I _really _want to smack this guy around." Axel made a noise resembling a pig which had just had its tail yanked.

Rozalin turned to give him one of her stern looks, "No one is beating anyone up!" she told him.

Shane sighed, defeated, "Yes, Mom." Adell had been meaning to ask her how she did that. God knows what a hard time he had getting Shane, or any of the kids, for that matter, to listen to anything _he _said.

But that didn't matter. He sighed and focused his mind, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, let's go find Sarah."

…

_Veldime, Former Nightclub District_

They walked through the burning wrecks that were once nightclubs, every single one razed to the ground. The smell of burning wood hung in the air, accompanied by another burning smell, one that smelt far more rotten, far more revolting. After about five minutes, Axel again wanted to turn back, but Adell grabbed him by the shoulder. The idiot hadn't worked out yet that if he went alone, he wouldn't stand a chance. Hell, they had only survived an encounter with one of these monsters because there were so many of them. Here may have been a different story, Adell had warned them all to stay alert. There were far too many places to hide; too many walls still standing, too many piles of rubble. If they were ambushed, they could all be killed before they even knew where their attacker was.

"Wait…" said Katarina, who had been sticking close to Rozalin, "What's that?"

Adell looked around, listening. Finally, he found it, a former bar a few doors down. Above the crackling of the fires came quiet sobbing. It was Sarah! He knew it. "C'mon."

It was one of the few bars left standing, most of the roof was missing but the walls were still there, sheilding the room from the fire's light, creating an eerie darkness within the room. Against the backmost wall, Sarah sat with her back to them, sheltering in the shadow of the ruined wall. Her legs crossed and her face was in her hands, slightly muffling her crying. "Sarah!" Adell and Rozalin said almost together. Adell finally had all of his children back, knew that they were all safe. But Sarah simply ignored them, didn't even react, just sat there sobbing. Adell was worried that she thought she had been abandoned; that would be common for her, for her condition.

He went to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she twitched, almost as if she was afraid of his touch. "Sarah?" he said with concern. He saw her turn quickly before finding himself being hurled through a brick wall.

As his ears rung, he heard Rozalin's shocked and angry voice, "Sarah! What in the name...", then he heard her gasp, like she was suddenly terrified. He looked up, and immediately shared her horror, as he looked into the jet black eyes of Overlord Zenon. Somehow, she had found her way into Sarah.

"Sarah, please. You have to fight her! Fight Zenon." he yelled at her.

Sarah's expression, one of pure, unrestrained anger, did not change, "Sarah is a being of solitude… We are both beings of solitude." She said, in two distinct voices talking at once; Sarah's sad innocence and Zenon's fury. She then looked back toward their family. Adell leapt up and dashed between Sarah and them. She tilted her head, "Are you our enemies?"

"No Sarah!" he cried, "It's us, your family!"

"Whoa… what the hell is going on here?" asked a shaken up Shane.

"Mommy! What's wrong with her eyes?!" screamed little Kat.

Sarah glared at them "Brother… Sister…" she summoned up Zenon's powers, and the ground shook with a terrible rumble. "You never cared about Sarah… you hated Sarah."

Adell's anger rose to new levels, "Zenon! Let my daughter go!"

"But… she is less than nothing without me…" came the unified reply, "she was a being of solitude… even before me… now… together… we will lay waste to all those who abused us… starting with YOU!" A bolt of lightning flashed from Sarah's hand, and Adell's instinct took over. He crossed his arms in a blocking stance and took the shot, which vibrated painfully through his bones. There was no going back now; he would have to fight his own daughter.

Before he could do anything, Sarah flung her arm and pointed at the floor. In second, Adell was hurtling towards where she had pointed. Before he landed, she kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying once again.

Adell stayed down, waiting for Sarah to come closer, hoping to catch her off guard and slap her back to normal, just as had happened with Roz when she first transformed. He swung his arm, and she grabbed it. "You don't care about Sarah; she is a being of solitude."

Her grip tightened, and he felt his bones starting to give way, "Sarah… you know that isn't true…" he said as he winced painfully.

Shane ran up behind her, but she quickly brought a kick up to his head, knocking him away. Her grip on Adell's wrist got even tighter until his wrist snapped, sending an explosion of pain up his arm and into his jaw. He cried out and heard Katarina scream in horror.

Sarah threw him to the ground, summoning up a large ball of dark energy. Adell started to roll to get out of the way, but she stamped on his ankle, sending another excruciating wave up his leg and up his body. She raised the energy to deliver the final blow, but Shane tackled her to the ground and the shot fired over into the wreckage. Immediately, though, she stood up and grabbed Shane around the throat, lifting him up by his neck.

Adell's ankle made standing up a torment, but his son's desperate chocking willed him on. He struggled up, and grabbed Sarah's shoulders, yanking her away from Shane, who fell to the ground, taking a great breath in to try to get some air back into his lungs. Adell fell backwards, while Sarah stumbled but remained upright. She turned, and summoned up a Giga Fire spell, enveloping Adell in the blaze. The flames slashed his skin, and he held in a scream.

The flames went away just as quickly as they had appeared. Adell felt tears of hope welling up; maybe his little girl was back? He looked up, and the hope turned to despair, as Sarah fell to the ground, and another of the creatures stood behind her with its arms outstretched, and red sparks dancing on its hands.

He sat bolt upright, to see that Shane was also laying unconscious with another one standing over him. He looked over at Rozalin, who was screaming and unleashing every shot she had at them, but, of course, nothing affected them. Kat was crouched behind her, in a kind of foetal position. Adell stood, but his injuries tripped him up as he cried out in agony and frustration, striking his head on a piece of rubble as he went down.

The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was the screaming of his beloved wife and his little Princess.

_Wow, two updates within a week of each other? In MY fanfic? its more likely than you think!_

_Anyhoo, hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and have a happy 2013. Also, the real-life Apocalypse did not happen (yay!) but this one still might..._


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – Fight Back

_Celestia, Nirvana City, Safe house_

Almaz, Sapphire, Cubelle and Umeka were ushered into the safe house by the Baciel guarding the door, it smelled rotten, like spoiled food, and was noisy with the frightened chatter of escaping people. A Heavy Knight and a real beefcake of an angel peered at them, like they were asking themselves whether they were to be trusted, but Almaz I thought they decided against it as soon as they saw Umeka; Pand spies wouldn't bring in kids he guessed.

They sat down at one of the empty tables; the place reminded Almaz of the dank warehouse from hero movies where the damsel in distress is taken by the bad guys to lure the hero into a trap. That sure was fitting with the current situation, being hopeless and all. The Pand were looking for them, and god only knows what had happened to Mao and Lady Beryl. Almaz winced at what Cubelle, and especially Umeka must be feeling right now, the poor kids. Umeka was sobbing quietly into her sister's shoulder, and Cubelle was only barely sitting still. The sight really made him feel bad, like it was his fault. He saw Florence's terrified face in his mind.

At least he still had the Princess, and their little baby. He leaned over to her, she had her head sank in sadness. It really killed him to see her like that too, and again he thought that there might have been something he could have done. "Princess…" he said softly. She turned her head toward him. "… please be honest, was any of this… or all of this… my fault?"

"Oh, Almaz…" she said sadly "… if it were, I'd be beating you to a pulp by now." An honest answer if ever there was one. She could obviously read him like a book, and she put her arm around him and her head on his shoulder, "There really was nothing you could have done."

"If you really want to do something, Sir Almaz…" Cubelle said determinedly, startling him, "… then kindly take care of my little sister while I go and find Mao and Raspberyl." There was nothing but utter surety in her voice as she stood and placed Umeka on the chair. She crouched in front of the child "I'll be back soon…" she whispered gently, "… and I'm bringing Mommy and Daddy back."

She then started toward the door, with Umeka watching after her. Almaz stood up and went after her. "Hey, wait a minute!" he called.

She stopped and spun round, very angry, "What? Don't even think about trying to stop me."

"But…" Almaz breathed, looking round to see if Umeka was out of earshot, which she thankfully seemed to be, "… you don't know where they are… or even if their still alive." She shut her eyes tightly and breathed in sharply, as if fighting back tears, then opened her eyes again to look at him, almost expressionless. "I'm sorry, Cubelle, but…"

Her eyes widened, "No, no, they needed him for something. Mao, I mean… he must be alive, he has to be!" she seemed to be speaking out of hope more than anything else. But Almaz, maybe out of blind hope too, thought that this logic may be enough to go on.

But, then, he had always been a realist in these situations, one of the upsides of being spineless he guessed. "What about Ms Beryl?"

Cubelle inhaled sharply again and covered her eyes with her eyes, "I, I don… I don't know." She seemed like she might burst into tears at any moment. But Almaz sensed that she was tougher than that, and if not, then she was being strong for Umeka's sake. She kept glancing over his shoulder toward their table. She sniffed and gathered herself, folding her arms irritably, "You can't stop me!"

"Fine." Almaz said softly. "But I can't let you go alone; I'm coming with you." As he had always meant to. Now came the hard part. Almaz turned around and walked back to the table, his eyes locked on Sapphire. "Cubelle is going to rescue Sir Mao and Ms Beryl…" he said to her, "and I'm going with her."

"You mean 'we'." She said, and it was a statement, not a question.

"No" he answered, totally focused on being strict with her. It wasn't easy. "You have to stay here." She stood up to argue, but Almaz cut her off, "You have to think about the baby now, and if anything were to happen to you…"

Cubelle came back, "Besides…" she said, "we can't leave Umeka here alone, and I'm certainly not bringing her along." Sapphire and Cubelle exchanged a look, and in a second, there seemed to be a mutual understanding. "Please…" continued Cubelle, "… I know I can trust you guys… because Mao trusted you… and Mao doesn't trust _anyone_."

Sapphire closed her eyes and sank into her chair, her head hanging over her knees. "Oh Almaz…" she said sadly, "sometimes I nearly wish you were the coward you used to be."

Almaz couldn't bear to see her sad. "Sapphire… I'm sorry."

She smiled at him, "Just know that if you don't come back, I'll never forgive you."

He smiled back, even though he hardly felt like smiling, "Okay."

Cubelle gave Umeka a smile too, "Stay with Sapphire." She told her.

"Sure thing Big Sis." The little girl said sadly. She was looking down, trying to avoid Almaz's eyes.

They then turned and walked away. Even before they left the building, Almaz couldn't help but think that was the last time he would see Sapphire.

…

Out on the ruined streets of Nirvana City, Almaz and Cubelle stayed to the side of the street, avoiding the occasional gaze of passers-by. "Ms Cubelle, how are we going to find out where they are?" Almaz asked, hating the awkward silence.

She didn't look at him, "Ask the right person and you can find out anything." Seemed simple enough, but then when was anything Almaz did with demons 'simple'? He presumed she meant one of the Pand worshippers; she seemed to deal with them effectively enough at the complex. With that in mind, he was afraid that she may try to extract the information even if they didn't want to give it. "Don't worry…" she said, looking at him and smiling that sweet 'Ms Beryl' smile again, "… I can be quite _persuasive_ when I want to be." Consider that fear confirmed.

He saw a Petit Orc standing on the street in front of them, like the Vato Brothers but lighter in colour, who was wearing a badge that he'd seen on all the other passers-by since they left. Before he could figure out what they meant the orc seemed to skip toward them. "Hello, friends! I see that you have no badges; could it be that you have yet to convert to the church of the Pand?"

"Well actually…" Almaz started, only to be interrupted by Cubelle kicking the orc in the jaw, causing it to fly back a few feet backwards. It landed on its face, and collapsed like a ragdoll. Almaz must have gasped because Cubelle was giving him an odd look.

"How exactly are you surprised that I did that?" she asked him, as if she were asking why he was such an idiot. Maybe he was an idiot for not expecting her to do something like this. She was Mao's kid, after all. She looked around for 'witnesses' after telling him to do the same and dragged the unconscious and bloody orc into a nearby alleyway.

It was quite clean for an alleyway, which was soon changed by the splotches of blood from the orc, who was now propped up against a wall, groaning painfully. Cubelle grabbed the little demon's throat, and Almaz felt bad for him.

"Where are Overlord Mao and Queen Raspberyl?" Cubelle growled.

"Who?" the terrified orc coughed.

"Your boss, Dorn; he took them, and I want to know where!"

The desperation of both of them was on full display. "How should I know!?" said the panicking orc "I've never even met Lord Dorn!"

"Liar!" she spat, and seemed to put her full weight onto its neck.

"C'mon, man! You're crushing my windpipe!"

Almaz finally had to pull her off of him. The orc gasped air while Cubelle turned to glare at Almaz. "Look…" he said, "…he doesn't know anything!"

"How could he not know anything?!" screamed Cubelle, the distress obvious in her voice. Almaz saw tears finally start to roll down her face.

"Please!" yelled the orc, "I do know something; everyone who gets taken by the Pand; they all go to this factory in Veldime! Please don't tell anyone I told you that; Lord Dorn would tear me apart if he knew!" He then curled up in the foetal position and started sobbing.

Almaz felt hopeful for the first time since he arrived back on Earth. Cubelle was looking at him with a determined look. "So…" he said, "which way to Veldime?"

…

The two strangers walked away, much to Jose's relief. The man actually thanked him, which was kind of messed up considering they had just tortured him. His throat still hurt and he coughed painfully, but at least he was alive, which was probably more than could be said for the people those two were looking for.

Jose took a sec to chill after that ruckus; he leaned back against a wall. He was still scared off his head of course! As he said; if Lord Dorn found out he'd told a secret like that to non-believers…

He had heard a rumour that Dorn had ripped apart a girl for talking back to him. He'd also heard rumours that he'd done 'other things' to her as well. "Oh, man…" Jose said aloud with a lump in his throat as he thought of all the other girls who had joined up.

A shadow was then cast from outside the alley, and Jose turned to see one of the Pand standing there, staring at nothing, still talking to itself. Jose froze, but it was okay; this thing was on his side, right? And there was no way it heard him tell them about the factory.

It looked down at him, and silently raised its arm toward him. Jose jumped up and made a break for it; and then everything went red… and then black.

_Wow; three chapters in the space of just ten days?! They should call me butter, because I'm on a roll. So anyway, Chapter 16 won't be long after this, and maybe Chapter 17. But after that I will have rejoined University, but I promise I will try to fit this into my schedule as best I can._

_Happy 2013, Disgaea fans!_


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

_Celestia, Nirvana City, Seraph's Mansion_

Laharl sat in silence, staring at the spot where Flonne had just been less than a second ago. She was just gone… disappeared into nothing. He felt nothing, besides the initial shock, he was totally vacant, but only for a few seconds. After that, the full force of what had just happened hit him like a blow to the chest, and he let out a blood curdling scream.

It was his Mother all over again! Flonne's love for him had betrayed her, gotten her killed. Not again, damnit! No! Why did this have to happen? Why didn't he listen to her?

…

Dorn stood in amazement at this development; had that woman really just thrown herself in front of his bolt? That just didn't make any sense; why would you knowingly go to your own death to save another? That implies that she thought his life more important than her own, and that was stupid!

He'd truly never seen anything like it, and Lord Kevok had downloaded a vast array of knowledge into his head before waking him up. Dorn was genuinely curious to learn more, although he was disappointed that he couldn't have made that woman suffer, there would be more where she had come from, why there were a few fragile looking heathens in this very room whom it would be fun to pick apart. One of whom; a blue haired girl on her knees with a confused look on her face; upon a quick glance into her mind, turned out to be Laharl's daughter. Oh, how Dorn was looking forward to meeting her. But for now, a simple brainwave scan on what was left of the Blonde's mind would suffice.

He raised his arm and pressed the appropriate buttons, drawing in her residual brain patterns, among them her last thoughts. They were going to make for some interesting listening later on. In any case, it was high time that Dorn dealt with the 'Great Laharl', who seemed like his head was about to explode with all the questions buzzing about in his mind, it was giving _Dorn _a headache just listening to it all.

He shook his head sharply and took aim once again, and yet another screech came from the heathens. Dorn looked around just as a small child, who bore a striking resemblance to Laharl, leapt onto the Pand Lord's head and started punching him continuously yelling indiscernible curses and empty threats. It was all to no avail of course, and Dorn simply grabbed him and tossed him through another of the walls. He would deal with him all in good time.

But by then, Laharl was up, and Dorn snapped himself into focus, aware that his challenge still stood. He thrust out his leg into Laharl's stomach as the demon charged toward him in blind rage. His opponent crumpled once again. Clutching his stomach in much the same way as the woman, who Dorn now assumed was Laharl's mate, had just a second ago.

Dorn grinned as he kicked his face and placed his foot on Laharl's head and slowly squeezed, looking forward to the satisfying 'pop' that usually followed. But this little shit was more determined than ever before, and Dorn only barely got a hand up to deflect the black ball of energy away from his face.

Already, Laharl was clawing at him madly, Dorn only just able to keep up with the decisions coming from the idiot's head. Dorn slapped him away and found his footing. How dare this cocky son of a bitch make him wait for his kill! "Why won't you just die?" Dorn asked, trying to keep his cool demeanour, but painfully aware of how obviously frustrated he sounded.

Laharl didn't respond as he again swung for Dorn's face; he was acting on animal instinct; it was getting hard to read his mind. Dorn took a step back to avoid, and the fists kept coming. Eventually, Dorn leapt backwards a few feet from him, and raised his weapon. It wasn't going to be as much fun, but it was starting to look like the situation was not fully under control, which Dorn could not abide.

Just as he fired, that child came back, grabbing him around the waist. The surprise made Dorn throw his arms up and the red bolt fired into the ceiling. This was the final straw; it was time for this brat to die.

…

Laharl looked up again to see Ryouta grabbing it around the waist. Damn it, why couldn't he stay out of it? But that didn't matter as Dorn raised his elbow to strike down on his son's head. Laharl fired dark energy into the floor, and the dust that had built up from all the broken pieces of the building exploded up into a cloud.

"What is it now!" he heard the bastard yell as the Overlord charged through the cloud, hoping that it would be enough to obscure him. When he saw Dorn again, it was obvious that it wasn't; he had shaken himself free of Ryouta and he reached out and grabbed Laharl's face. Blind, Laharl swung his arms, hoping to catch him, but it one second, Laharl was zooming past Dorn, but then immediately went backwards again.

He lost his balance and fell backwards. Then there was a deafening crack as Laharl's back came down on Dorn's knee. He screamed in agony as he felt his spine get ripped in two, and fell to the ground, barely feeling anything.

Dorn took his hand off of his face, and the first thing Laharl saw was that horrible grin. "I was thinking I could vaporise you right now…" that son of a bitch said smugly "… but, now that you've really pissed me off, I think it would be more fun to let you just lie down there and die of your own accord."

…

Ryouta sat behind Dorn, his ears still humming from that awful crack. Damn… damn it all to hell. His friends were gone; now this Dorn asshole wanders in and kills his Mom and now does this to his Dad. Ryouta wanted to cry; he so wanted to cry, just to let all of this out and then hide himself away. But he couldn't… with his Dad gone… he guessed that this made him the Overlord… kind of. And an Overlord had a duty… to protect his vassals and his family legacy.

Dorn turned back to the crowds, who were horrified. "Now…" he said, in that damn cocky voice of his "… you all have two choices; swear your allegiance to the Pand or… well…" he pointed down at Ryouta's Dad "…that." He then started to laugh, the most patronising and annoying laugh Ryouta had ever heard.

"Hey, shiny freak, I'm still here!" Ryouta yelled.

Dorn looked over his shoulder, "So you are…" he said, like he didn't even care.

Every instinct in Ryouta's body told him to give up; he was more scared than he'd ever been. This was different from anything before; Ryouta had thought he was about to die twice before in his life, but the difference was that, here, he was alone. Mom, and all his friends were gone, Aunt Etna was nowhere in sight, hell she was probably dead too, and Dad was barely moving.

But as an Overlord, like all the greats, like Baal, like Zetta, like Laharl, he had to rise above fear. He picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could at the back of Dorn's head.

He spun around, with a pissed off look on his face. Out of the corner of his eye, Ryouta saw one of the other Pand aim at him. He kept his eyes locked into Dorn's.

"You said you liked that little game you just played with my Dad, that whole 'if you can touch me' thing?" Dorn got closer until Ryouta could smell the blood of his Father, the same expression on the thing's face. "Well, how about going round two… with me." Dorn got even closer, lowering his head so Ryouta could see the veins in his eyes. Ryouta shook so much; he wanted to run away, so badly that his legs ached, but he forced himself to stay.

After what seemed like hours of staring, Dorn stood up and started to turn around. Then he slapped Ryouta's head. Ryouta's world throbbed with dull pain as he landed on the marble floor. This was it; he'd failed.

"I can't play with you heathens all day!" Dorn yelled angrily, making Ryouta's head hurt more; but he hadn't killed him. "I have better things to do than satisfy your egos. Haven't you figured it out yet? You've lost! We've won!" He wasn't dead! Ryouta hadn't failed yet. "Now why don't you all just get down on your knees and start worshipping the Pand? Because whoever isn't in the next ten seconds; I am going to…"

"Hey…" Ryouta forced himself to say. He pushed himself up, his head still hurting like hell. "What's the matter, are you afraid you'll lose? That I'll humiliate you? Is that it?" Ryouta stared into his eyes once again. "How does a weakling like you get to lead the Pand?"

Ryouta grinned; with every word, Dorn got angrier. Ryouta summoned up his strength, and lightning danced between his hands and the floor. Dorn looked ready to have a heart attack. After a few minutes of staring at each other, in which Ryouta pumped himself up in his head so much that he seemed to surpass Baal and Zetta, Dorn finally spoke.

"Fine."

Ryouta didn't wait; he unleashed the lighting from his hands, firing it directly at Dorn, making them go at him from all directions. Dorn leapt backwards, but Ryouta made the lightning follow him. He leapt off of what was left of a pillar and propelled himself high into the air. Ryouta concentrated hard and redirected the bolts upwards, still trying to make as them come from as many different directions s possible. He couldn't blink, couldn't lose focus, not even for a second. Dorn landed on his feet near the door would be, and still the lightning followed him. He then picked up one of the doors that he'd kicked down earlier and held it between the lightning and himself. Ryouta focused more than he'd ever done in his life to bend the lightning around it and into Dorn's head. Seeing this, the Pand threw the door at Ryouta, and the Demon Prince's concentration was broken. He rolled out of the way and looked back at the lightning bolts which had faded into the ground harmlessly. But he couldn't see Dorn, not until he turned around anyway. Ryouta panicked and threw his arms up to fire more lightning but Dorn grabbed his head and forced him to the ground.

Dorn knelt on his chest and rammed his weapon into Ryouta's temple.

He saw his Sister; she was on her knees, shaking violently clutching her chest like she'd just been shot. He guessed he was stupid to expect any help from her.

"This is going to be _so _relieving." Dorn said through gritted teeth.

Ryouta shut his eyes. Weird; he thought he'd be scared or angry, but he was just calm. He guessed that this must have been what Mom had felt... he hoped so… he hated the thought of her being frightened. At least he'd managed to piss the son of a bitch off… it wasn't much comfort, but it was good to think that he'd, at the very least, made this little plan of his go wrong, even just a little bit.

He waited for the screech that killed his Mother. But instead, all he heard was an incoming "Dooooooooooooood!" Followed by an explosion.

He shielded his face from the heat as Dorn fell on his ass opposite him. Shards of Prinny were all around him. Then he was treated to a familiar and very welcome voice.

"Hey, E.T., no one offs this particular Royal family 'cept me, got that?"

"Aunt Etna!"

Dorn stood up, looking more pissed than ever. "Of all the…!"

Etna put on the most patronising face she could, "Aw, did I wuin your wittle swaughter!" Ryouta laughed, Etna was back, for sure.

Meanwhile, Ryouta could almost feel Dorn's anger radiating off of him. "Kill her! Kill her now!"

Ryouta panicked, the two Pand guards raised their weapons, but Etna was already on the ceiling. They fired wildly upwards, causing a load of smoke to be blown up. An age went by, and Ryouta assumed the worst. But then he heard, "Nyah! Missed me!" from behind him.

Ryouta turned happily "Aunt Etna! You don't know how great it is to see you!"

"I know damn well how great it is to see me! I'm me, remember!"

…

This bitch was making him look a total idiot! Now there were more coming; little bird-things, a dragon and a zombie. Dorn didn't have time for this. If he was late, Lord Kevok would have his head!

It was time to bid these heathens farewell, but not before he reminded them all why they were terrified of him.

"Pand, kill them all, leave none alive!"

…

Aunt Etna gasped, "C'mon, sport, we gotta get out of here" she said urgently.

"Wait!" shouted Ryouta, "He said he'd let us all go if I hit his head or body!"

Already the Pand were shooting into the crowd and people were running and dying.

"Please Aunt Etna! If I don't then everyone here is going to die."

She cursed under her breath, "Okay, okay, I'll keep him busy, you punch him in the ass."

…

Dorn went to teleport back to the factory, but that red headed whore grabbed his arm. He tried to swat her away but she ducked, and clung on like a limpet. His patience depleted, he turned and pointed his weapon at her head. That was when he felt the little shit kick him in the backside.

"Do you really think I mean to live up to what I promised on that…"

"You lost… you promised…"

"Shut the %^&* up!" he yelled at the red head.

"The hell? I didn't even say anything." She yelled back.

"Well then who the…"

"I said it…"

Dorn threw her away. His focus was now on this voice which seemed to come from everywhere at once. It must be coming from somewhere; Dorn couldn't be going mad! He was nothing like Jook! Nothing!

"You promised you'd let them live if you lost..." it said.

"I don't give a damn! Shut up!"

…

Everyone, from Ryouta and Etna to the fleeing demons and angels to Dorn's supporters to the Pand themselves stopped, and stared at Dorn, who was clutching his head, looking like he was yelling at no one.

"Why should I? You're not even real, damn it!"

Ryouta fidgeted, he knew that he had to do something with this opportunity, but what? He couldn't attack him, Dorn still couldn't be hurt. He was supposed to be the Overlord! He should know this! Why didn't he know what to do!

"Alright!" he heard Aunt Etna yell, "Everyone out!"

Like that, everyone in the room made a mad dash for whatever hole to the outside world they could find, but the Pand supporters grabbed and clawed and stamped, refusing to let them pass. The air was full of white noise as the supporters cursed the pleading escapees. Ryouta saw what he had to do. Summoning up all of his strength, he charged through a crowd of supporters, knocking most of them aside like bowling pins, but eventually he hit a massive Wood Golem, who knocked him down to the ground.

Immediately, the shouting supporters started crowding around him; Ryouta felt more boxed in with each second. His vision was filled with angry faces against the blood red sky of dusk. Then they started stamping on him, clawing at his skin, punching and biting him. Ryouta cried out at the pain, he tried to fight back but could barely move, he felt the sticky blood oozing from his wounds. Ryouta's entire existence was agony; dark, loud agony.

His vision was blurred as he made out the figure of Aunt Etna desperately throwing his attackers away, but as soon as one was gone, another took his place. The pain was non-stop; even Ryouta's throat hurt from the screaming. He felt tears run down his face and his eyes stung as they turned to blood.

Ryouta was going to die, he was sure of it this time. He just wished it would come quick.

Then, he thought, it finally did. As he shut his eyes against the burning of the blood in them, the attacking stopped. He opened his eyes to see a brilliant light blue. He still throbbed all over, but now felt like he was being lifted from the ground, like he was ascending.

Then he blacked out.

…

Etonne was acting on instinct, as she could hardly see straight. For the first time in years, she felt. It wasn't what she expected, it was horrible.

But that didn't matter now; she knew she had to save her brother, and the extension of her diamond sword protected him, and her. She had her eyes shut tight and she was trying to suppress to emotion as she had done all these years. But she couldn't focus on that while trying to maintain her shields from the relentless attack of those people outside. She didn't think that those… really scary things were trying to get in… thank god.

The pain in her heart was unbearable… Mommy… Daddy… they were murdered right in front of her. But she couldn't let Ryouta die… focused on the diamond… she wanted to go back to how she was… this pain!

…

Etna watched that Dorn bastard yell at himself.

"Stop this! You will not make me leave!" he hollered.

Etna saw her chance as he stumbled over to a gigantic wall; she launched her Chaos End attack at it, and it crumbled. He turned round and screamed at it, but it was too late, that son of a bitch was going to have one hell of a headache.

"Etonne!" she yelled, and the Princess, whose face was tear stained. Well what do you know! But that could wait till later. "Get Ryouta out of there! I'll level 'em all!"

She saw her nod, and, slowly, the diamond casket holding Ryouta was dragged back to her. When it was clear, Etna charged another Chaos End, and hurled it at Ryouta's attackers. "Nobody, but nobody, screws with my Nephew!"

When the smoke cleared, the crowd was either gone or making a run for it. But, before she could gloat, the asshole she'd just buried was starting to stir. With that, she scooped the unconscious Ryouta and flew for it, with Etonne taking off behind her.

…

Etonne was about to follow Etna when she heard groaning behind her; it was her Father; he was still alive. Just like Ryouta; Etonne knew she had to help him, although she wasn't sure why. When she was like she was, she would've just left him there… or would she? It was so confusing!

But she still had to save his life. She flew down, and gently put his arm over her shoulder. Dorn was almost out of the rubble, giving this primal scream that made Etonne fear. She heaved her father into the sky after Etna.

She heard a large crash as Dorn escaped. There was another screech, and Etonne felt the heat of his laser zip past her head. She screamed, she was scared… oh god… this was fear… she was in the cage again… those men looking in at her and laughing…

She started to fall… getting faster… Daddy… she could barely move… so cold… falling ever faster… she screamed as loud as her lungs would allow her.

Then she felt herself stop falling. "It is alright, Princess Etonne" said Dratti. They flew away, and Etonne heard Dorn yell in anger. Even the cage, the laughing men, the cold, dark nights laying on metal mesh, totally alone… none of it was as frightening as that sound.

…

Dorn was shaking with rage; they had gotten away and utterly humiliated him! Why hadn't these Pand done anything?! What was this damn voice?! Damn! He burned to hurt that red head woman… _really _hurt her… and Laharl's daughter too. Oh, and Ryouta wouldn't escape from him, oh no, that little piece of shit was going to get what was coming to him; and Dorn looked forward to it. He should have dispatched the two Pand after them, but where was the fun in that? Besides which, it wasn't as though they were a threat.

These thoughts calmed him a little, and anyway, he was already late for his sacred role! Oh, how he relished that thought… when Lord Kevok's will was fulfilled, those heathens would pay. All the heathen would pay! Not just in these worlds; in all worlds, the entire universe! They will all burn!

And he was about to light the fire.

…

Everything has its time… and time is running out. As Cubelle and Almaz race to save Mao and Raspberyl, as Laharl and his vassals and family make their escape, and as Adell fights to get his family back… nothing is certain, except that, for some of them… the time is now.

For everyone else, the time is not much further away. All will burn.

Nothing lasts forever… not even existence.

…

…

_And now a Squallace announcement!_

_Hey fans! Thank you for your continued support!_

_Anyway, unfortunately I return to University soon, which is shaping up to be even more work than ever before, and thus, Apocalypse is on hiatus, at least until I can find a gap in my work._

…

_(Next episode music hits) Next time;_

_Valvatorez; The time draws near… the final conflict is at hand!  
Laharl, Adell and Mao have been dealt defeat after defeat at the hands of the Pand menace!  
But fear not! For I, Tyrant (and Part-time Prinny Instructor) Valvatorez shall save the Netherworld!  
Next Time; Disgaea Apocalypse; Final Chapters!  
The Pand will face a greater power than ever before! The Power… of SARDINES!  
The seemingly invincible psychopaths are no match for the might of the small oily fish of the family of Clupeidae!_

_Squallace;… I didn't have the heart to tell him he wasn't in the fic…_

_Valvatorez; Wha… What!?_

_Ryouta; Aww… I thought I was going to meet THE Tyrant Valvatorez…_


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

_Veldime, Outside Pand Dimension Gate, Outside Mysterious Factory_

Almaz felt like he was being sent to the principal's office as he stood in the crowd of Pand worshippers . That growing sense of dread that he got in situations like this, where he knew that there was a very good chance that he could die once he got to the destination. The destination, in this case, being the building in front of him. So far, he'd only heard it called "the factory". Just what on god's name were they making in there? Almaz winced as he realised that the Pand already had the upper hand, so it could only be something that would be the beginning of the end.

Waiting truly was torture. He was fighting just to keep his composure, not having too much success. If that Dorn guy was here, he'd recognise them immediately, and then that would be it. No daring rescue, no heartfelt reunions; just one look and it would all be over.

Cubelle elbowed him in the ribs as she waited next to him in a clear sign that he should stop looking so nervous, glancing at the two Pand standing atop the tower to the left of the crowd staring at them with those unblinking, insane eyes. Meanwhile, she was calm, spookily so; she seemed entirely focused on the task at hand. She had told him that she felt she owed Sir Mao and Ms Beryl for giving her a life to live, and making her their daughter, rather than some orphan alone in the wasteland. From what he understood, the possibility of orphans being just left somewhere to live alone, while it was disgusting to him, was virtually normal practice in the Netherworlds.

Almaz wondered at how much they had changed since last time he had seen them, a few weeks ago for him, millennia in reality. He decided to distract himself from his impending violent death by thinking about just what the hell happened; how they'd missed the last 2000 years. And if it had anything to do with what was happening now?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of whirring cogs. He looked up at the building as the large door slid open smoothly and an imposing demon with spiky hair, probably in his 50s (or rather, his 5000s?) from his wrinkled and pale face, stepped out. He cast an eye over the crowd and smirked.

Almaz fingered the badge on his lapel, which Cubelle had stolen for him in Celestia as he realised that it was probably the only thing standing between him and instant death. He dreaded to think how Cubelle had gotten the badges, after all, she was desperate, and desperate people do desperate things, especially desperate demons.

"Attention workers!" Called the wrinkled demon. "The Pand wish you to enter now."

Obediently, the crowd started shuffling toward the open gate. Cubelle went too, walking purposefully. Almaz figured she'd worked out a plan of action; sure was nice of her not to let himin on it, he thought. "_Oh God."_ He thought, "_It's probably something she knows I'd object to"._ Almaz thought about that Orc who she'd attacked and tortured to get them here.

The feeling of dread intensified as he stepped over the threshold into the factory. There were six giant pod-like things in the hanger-like room main room. They hissed and sizzled with heat as Almaz tried hard not to think about what they were being used for. Or the fact that the one in front of him had a door. Almaz tried to shut out his panicked thoughts "_They're ovens! This is an extermination camp!" _he thought, as hard as he tried to not do so. Everyone else seemed disturbed by them too, eying them with worried expressions and whispering frantically to one another; only Cubelle kept her eyes locked forward. "_Oh Lord…" _Almaz wheezed, a tear trickling down his cheek; what if Mao and Beryl had been incinerated here? He must have gasped because some people glanced at him for a second.

The crowd stopped abruptly, causing him to walk into the person in front, a Beast Master who had been trembling the whole time he'd seen her. She almost fell, but Almaz grabbed her shoulder to steady her. "Thanks…" she whimpered.

"Wait here!" the wrinkled demon bellowed before he could answer.

Almaz felt Cubelle elbow him again. She nodded past him and he looked around. He saw a mauve-coloured hand lever on the oven next to him. He looked back at her, "Pull it?" he mouthed to her, to make sure he understood what she wanted him to do; she nodded slowly. Almaz looked back at the lever, "_Heck, what could it do that's worse than what's already happened?" _He scanned around, then, as quickly as he could, he pulled it.

The noise from inside the oven stopped, and he fell back to where he was. He heard the Beast Master ask him if he was okay, and he looked at her. But she was looking at the lever; she snapped her head back to him. "What have you done?" she demanded in terror.

"Honestly, I have no idea…" He replied sheepishly.

The wrinkled demon shouted something, and one of the Pand opened the door to the oven and stepped inside.

Cubelle grabbed his wrist, and started to drag him through the crowd. As he stumbled to catch up, he realised that she was leading him to one of the other ovens. She glanced around and dashed, with Almaz almost falling over behind her, to the door. She opened it and pulled him inside, Almaz landed on his back on the mesh floor as the door swung closed.

And for the first time, Cubelle wasn't calm, she looked horrified. He stood up and turned around, and realised that these things weren't ovens; they were something far worse. In front of them were several rows of people, strapped to large, upright iron tables. It looked like the tortures of hell in the red light; they all had a curved piece of rusty metal over their mouths, which visibly broke the skin, and had the Pand's armour bolted into their flesh, and a syringe driven into their right temple. They gargled and twitched at the pain they were obviously in, and then an anguished scream rang out, one that Almaz realised in horror belonged to a teenage boy.

The door behind them crashed open, and a Pand stepped through. It was on top of them before they could react. It grabbed their heads, Almaz felt a searing pain course through his skull, and he blacked out.

…

Almaz slowly woke up, his head pounding. He couldn't see a thing, it was pitch black; he couldn't move from the uncomfortable hunched position he was in. Was this death? Was it all over? Had they failed?

He heard groaning; it sounded like Ms Cubelle. Was she dead too?

"Argh… Where am I?" he heard her moan.

"Heathen, you are in a world of pain…" said a voice, the smirk clearly audible. Almaz finally recognised the voice as that of the wrinkled demon from a minute ago.

He was grabbed by the collar, and yanked to his knees; after a few seconds, a blinding light shone in his eye as the sack was whipped off his head. He looked to his left; Cubelle was struggling furiously against the wrinkled demons grip as she too was forced up. She could only wriggle, however, as her arms had been bound behind her. Almaz tugged at his own arms, only to discover that they too were bound. This was it; the end was literally right around the corner.

It was a moment later when Almaz realised just how right he was; "Someone here would like to speak to you." The wrinkled demon said mockingly as he stepped aside. The door opened, and in came Dorn. Almaz felt the last strain of hope slip away.

The Pand was holding his head, almost as if he was hung over; but more importantly, he looked angrier than ever. He stepped over to Almaz, who tried to maintain eye contact, knowing that showing anything other than defiance would be seen as weakness and a cue to get rid of him.

"I don't like being humiliated…" he hissed, "and since I've come down to you heathens, I have been humiliated constantly." The familiar perverse grin returned, "But now, it's time to relieve some tension." He turned to Cubelle, and Almaz's chest tightened and his teeth clenched, "You're Mao's… _pretend _offspring?" he looked back at Almaz "… and he seemed to care a great deal about you as well…"

"Where is he?" Cubelle growled.

"How dare you speak to me, you little bitch!" Dorn spat, standing up and raising an arm, claws spread wide. But then he stopped, and grabbed his head again. He growled, but then sighed and returned to his coldly calm self. "As I was saying… we are going to the mother-ship, where I'm going to have some fun, by killing you…" his eyes locked onto Almaz's, and then he kneeled down getting his face right in Ms Cubelle's… "and then tearing you and Mao's pretty little mate in two, right before his eyes."

"Why?" Almaz demanded, seething with loathing in a way he'd never done before.

Dorn did not take his eyes off of Cubelle, "You are very pretty also." He grinned and let out a short, dirty laugh, "You think you're brave, But I can see the fear in your eyes, clear as crystal."

The bastard. "Answer me!" Almaz shouted, causing Dorn to snap his head toward the hero, a title he had never needed more. Dorn was clearly angry again; seemingly going through mood swings like a school of piranha went through a carcass. "Well if you must know, were it not for that heathen, I would never had had to come to these shithole worlds. Do you know, I've been more pissed off today than I've ever been in the millennia that I've been serving Lord Kevok?!" He then stepped back to Almaz, who flinched at the hands which covered his face. All of a sudden, Almaz's head burned, and he wasn't there anymore, he was back in that bar with Sapphire, having the same conversation with her.

"Is that your mate?" Dorn asked him. Almaz didn't answer. "Well, because you've forgotten your place, you $%^&ing little heathen…" he continued through clenched teeth, "after I kill you, I am going to find her… and kill her… very… very… slowly."

Almaz clenched his teeth, trying to leap up to kill him. Dorn had his hand on his shoulder and it felt like it weighed a ton. Still, Almaz struggled to escape his grasp, to tear out this son of a bitch's eyes, to ensure that he never reached Sapphire. Dorn seemed to enjoy his rage, laughing quietly in his face. Then he shoved him down with the arm on his shoulder, and Almaz landed hard, back first, onto the mesh flooring. Like falling on broken glass.

Dorn stood up and walked away, with that cocky grin still on his face. Almaz wanted to chase him down, to kill him, to kick the shit out of him until one of them couldn't move anymore. His bindings denied him the pleasure.

"Bring them up…" Dorn barked at the wrinkled demon. "But give me a few minutes alone with Mao's little bitch first. No hurry."

Cubelle screamed in anger, "You %^&*ing asshole! Touch her and I will…" the sound of a slap echoed throughout the room, followed by the crash of a body onto the mesh.

"See you soon!" Dorn said, actually sounding joyful.

"_Damn, it can't end like this!" _Almaz screamed in his head as the wrinkled demon forced him to his feet yet again.

"Well, since we have a few minutes…" the demon called out. Almaz didn't take his eyes off of him as he walked over to Cubelle, forced her up, and kneeled down behind her, putting his hand on her hip, "This might be my last chance to get close to a young lady."

Almaz braced and leapt up from his knees, but was unable to defend himself from the kick to the groin that came next. The heroes momentum sent him face first into the mesh, and he felt it penetrate his skin, and then the warm flowing of blood down his face. He rolled onto his side, his eyes still on them as the demon grabbed Cubelle from behind again.

Then Cubelle dropped her head and threw it back into the demon's nose, sending a spray of blood upward as he flew backwards. Almaz took his chance, throwing himself onto the demon's legs, trapping him. "You bastard!" the demon spluttered, taking a knife from his pocket and raising it above his head. But before he could go any further, Cubelle sped past extremely fast, kicking him in the face. The demons head snapped back, and an ear shattering crack rang out as he fell backwards limply.

"C'mon…" Cubelle hissed, "we don't have much time." She crouched behind him with her back to him, and Almaz untied her wrists. She returned the favour. They stood and ran after Dorn, coming to a dimension gate just down the hall. Cubelle led the way through the gate. As he followed, for the first time in his life, Almaz was driven entirely by anger. To hell with the Heroes Oath; he was going through that door for two reasons; to rescue his friends, and to make sure that Dorn never saw the light of day again.

…

_A/N; This chapter is done. Thank you for your patience and for your continued support._

_The finale is drawing close, but there are a few hurdles we need to overcome first. The main one being Dorn; who I'm actually very happy with. It's true what they say; writing villains is a lot of fun._

_Thanks again, have a nice day!_

_Squallace, over and out._


	19. An Announcement

Hi Guys, Squallace here with an update

First of all I'd like to apologise for the long time I've taken on Apocalypse, I now realise that this writing thing is MUCH harder than I thought.

But on to the main point, basically, at first writing was loads of fun, I was flying by the seat of my pants in euphoria as I typed, I enjoyed it enormously. Now, though, it just seems like work, I haven't been enjoying it as much and find that, often, I don't want to write and when I do, I'm not happy at all with what I'm coming out with.

So I was thinking about why I wasn't enjoying it as much, and then it hit me; because I had uploaded it here, I felt I had to work on it, thus it became a chore that I HAD to do, thus it stopped being a hobby, thus it stopped being fun, thus it stresses me out. Now, I'm not flattering myself in thinking that you guys are always thinking "when is Squall going to update", because, odds are, you aren't, and Apocalypse is quite insignificant as far as you are concerned. All the same, I kind of feel I'm letting you down by taking so long.

But, to the point, Apocalypse is now officially on hiatus. I apologise, I know I'm letting you down. However, I would like to stress that it is ON HIATUS and not CANCELLED. In other words, I will get it done at some point.

What I may do is pull it down, re-write the existing chapters so they're... well... good, and write all the remaining chapters THEN reupload the whole thing.

I'm not going to disappear alltogether though-but; I'll still be doing stuff. See my account for more details.

Thanks again for reading and to all of those who faved and reviewed, you guys are awesome.

I think that's it, so see you in the future.

As for Laharl, Adell, Mao and co, their story is TO BE CONTINUED.

Squallace, over and out.


End file.
